Phantom, Danny
by Cordria
Summary: The story you know from the very beginning, only from a slightly different point of view. What would the world of Danny Phantom be like... from the eyes of a ghost?
1. Section 1: The Accident

**Phantom, Danny**

**Section 1: The Beginning**

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_This is a strange story that I wrote for Camp NaNoWriMo last month. I've been sketching out the saga of Phantom, Danny for years, but never got around to writing it for many reasons. The 'entire' story would be hundreds of thousands of words long, as it stretches for years and through many difference scenarios. THIS story is only about 50,000 words - and covers the first month of the saga. _

_A new adventure for me... this story is completely written and edited and even uploaded onto FFNs servers already! There shouldn't be a single reason why I don't update when I'm supposed to. Not saying I won't find one... just saying there shouldn't really be one. :)_

_Enjoy!_

_-Cori_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Accident**

* * *

-Day ?-

_Everything_ was green.

Things were a shade of green no human could imagine existed. A green so impossibly alien that it seemed to glow with a light of its own. Not an infrared color. Not an ultraviolet. Some sort of… ectogreen, maybe.

And it was all he could remember. He hadn't been born here, he knew that. There was something dim and dark in that back of his mind that showed him there had been something _else_ before. Other colors, and shapes, and foreign things like sounds, and feelings, and movement. But the memory was so far away and so broken, he wasn't sure it was real. All that existed was the green.

He didn't have a name, not that it mattered. He was a tiny scrap of a ghost – barely able to keep a basic form together. Arms appeared sometimes, when he was feeling particularly energetic. But generally he looked something like a smear of shadow on a cloudy day. Lately he didn't bother with silly things like arms, or a head, or really any shape other than things that blended in and allowed him to hide.

He was _very_ lost. One day – however long ago, time didn't bother to exist in this green wilderness – he had wandered too far from the little hole he'd spent his existence hiding near, and had ended up staring down the business end of a ghost far more powerful than he could ever dream of being. The other ghost hadn't roared – _couldn't_, really, since there was no such thing as sound in the world of the dead – but it had reared up and let loose with the ghostly equivalent of a wolf's howl. The world itself had shaken. Large red eyes gleamed and claws dripped green, sizzling goo. He'd been momentarily dazzled, stunned by the idea of being powerful enough to have things like eyes and claws, but then he'd come to his senses. He ran.

Unfortunately, he'd chosen to run in the wrong direction.

The clawed thing had stopped chasing him after awhile, perhaps bored, or maybe it simply decided a little wisp of a ghost wasn't worth the effort involved with catching him. But now he was lost. His hole, his home, gone forever, vanished among the infinite realms and wastelands of the afterlife.

Tired, he spent uncountable periods of time slowly searching through the floating islands for a new hole. One that wasn't already occupied - or, if it was, one that was occupied by a ghost further down on the food chain than him.

How long ago had it been, he wondered, since he'd last seen his hole. Days, years, decades… he wasn't sure. All that existed was the present and the unending knowledge that the future stretched into infinity. Forever _this._

He wasn't angry or sad about it. He _couldn't_ be angry or sad, not really. Emotion was a distant concept that was barely remembered on a good day. Dreams of a different existence were meaningless wastes of time. Sometimes, though, he sat around on the edge of a precipice, unable to find a new home, and wondered what it would be like to do something else. To _be_ something else.

Then he would sigh and shake his form and go back to hunting for a new hole, knowing it was pointless to think about. He was now, and would forever be, a little wisp of a ghost.

He was halfway to a new island, having searched a countless number already, when a sharp spear of light appeared around him. He saw it for just a moment – a rip in the universe – before it engulfed him in _pain_.

Complete agony… Which was surprising, as ghosts don't feel pain. He'd spent his entire existence without having to worry about something so human.

He barely remembered _pain_ from the dark shadows of his forgotten past. It wasn't something he could comprehend. It was a searing sort of anguish that made him scream and wail. He twisted and turned and scratched with a body that suddenly had fingers tipped with claws and bit with sharp teeth – things he'd never had before – but there was nothing for it. The light drove through him and slammed him into something else. It felt like a solid wall.

And everything stopped. Like the aftermath of a giant tree falling in the woods, it was simply quiet. The pain slowly ebbed.

His form was moving. He felt arms and legs, fingers and toes. Hair brushing his face. Something soft pulled at his shoulders and legs as he stood up. Other things pinched at his toes.

Confused, he opened his eyes. And he could _see_. Really, truly see – not just the half sensing his eyeless form had been able to do. There were strange shapes and forms and colors and not just endless green…

What he was staring at came into focus: a face. With white hair, and eyes that blazed with that alien green, and a slightly upturned nose, and high cheekbones. A hand came up and brushed at the face. He felt it, realizing that he was gazing into a mirror. But he was just a tiny little ghost… he didn't have a face. Or hands.

Could this be _his_ face? How was that possible?

_-Startled?-_

It was an emotion he only just now understood, having never felt such emotions before. Only… it wasn't _his_. The strange emotion came from somewhere else. Somewhere warm and thick and…

His mouth was moving. Words were forming. _Sounds_.

He'd never heard sounds before. He listened a moment, entranced, before realizing something rather disturbing. He wasn't the one making the noises. _Something else_ was talking. Something warm and heavy was the one doing the talking, and it was using his mouth!

He pulled back, not liking the sensation of his form moving without his authorization. Not sure how to react, he hesitated.

-_Anxious!-_

His head turned. Other faces came into view. Warm, heavy things with fleshy bodies and smelly processes. One was black haired, the other darker skinned. They were talking - making noises with their mouths. The sensation of sound in his new ears made his head buzz and spin.

Humans?

It was then that he understood. Those things were humans. Disgusting, living things with souls tied to forms built of matter rather than energy. He was somehow in the living world.

It wasn't right, him being here. Ghosts don't belong in the world of the humans.

He retreated as far from the sensations, the feelings, the sights and sounds and smells, and curled up in a ball in the darkness. The living world became a dim thing buzzing at the corner of his mind. He hoped it would end soon.

.

.1.

.

-Day 2-

It did not. It eventually became obvious that he was trapped in the mind of this… human. This living being. A fleshy body with disgusting habits and desires. It was likely some bizarre form of possession – which a tiny scrap of a ghost like him shouldn't have been able to do at all.

Tired, scared, and confused, he sat in the human's mind, and waited, and waited, and waited.

And waited.

For the first time in his existence, he seemed to understand the concept of _time_. His entire existence could have passed in a heartbeat, for all he knew. But now he felt time pass with the slow ticking of a clock, and slowly began to comprehend the difference between a short few minutes and the long stretch of a day.

This… _time_… thing. It was the human's fault. He knew that. He wasn't sure how, or why, but it had to be the human's fault. A new appreciation for the ancient master of time took hold in his mind. It had only been two days, according to his new knowledge, and already he wished it to end.

Because with _time_ had come _boredom_. He didn't really understand the concept, but he felt it. Waiting for the human to allow him to leave very quickly became tedious. Curled up in the darkness, doing nothing, became difficult. He often stretched out towards the human's body, searching for something to do to occupy the time until he was freed of this torment.

The warmth of the living world scorched his cold form. Light blinded his eyes. The texture of clothing and blankets against skin irritated him. Motion – walking and jumping and falling and gravity – confused his simple mind. Everything pushed against him in a horrible, dizzying display that sent him scuttling back into the dark with a shiver and a hiss of his new sensation of _pain_. How the human could stand it for more than a few minutes, he couldn't know.

The human.

He turned his attention towards the warm, heavy, _sticky_ part of the mind he was locked inside. The revolting living creature went about its life like nothing had happened. In its dense human way, it didn't seem to care that he was there. He watched it eat dinner, shuddering at the idea of _eating_ and _digesting_. The taste of food made him curl up into a tiny ball and try to hide. It watched a movie with several other humans, talking and laughing, and _eating_ some more. Then it went up the stairs to do its homework.

All the while, sending a cacophony of emotions through his mind. -_-Hungry!- _was followed by –_Happy- _which was followed by -_Frustrated-._

It eventually gave up on the homework and ended up staring into a mirror in the room the human seemed to term a 'bathroom'. It eyed its black hair. A red dot on its nose. A lump of something between its teeth. And its eyes.

Its eyes were blue, despite the eerie green eyes he'd seen earlier in the mirror. Trapped underneath the blue, he could almost see _his_ eyes. Not that he'd ever had real eyes, but if he did, they would be there. Staring balefully at the human, demanding to be freed of the prison he'd found himself locked inside.

He was very quiet, half-hoping the human would be able to see his not-real eyes too, when he heard the human whisper. "Come on…"

He waited quietly, focusing on the human. There were no other living beings in the room with it – who was it talking to? Could it be talking to him?

The human squished its eyes together and wrinkled its forehead. "Just once. Come on!"

-_Hopeful- _flooded through his mind, which made him shake himself in distress, and a sudden, strange sensation of understanding. Almost like a picture had been waved in front of his face, he understood what the human was doing. It wanted to look like a ghost again - like how it had looked two days, ago after the light and the ripping and the pain.

He settled back into the corner of the human's mind, thinking that was bad plan. Ghosts and humans were different on many, many levels. They shouldn't look the same.

But it just stood there, in front of the mirror, peeking at itself from time to time from behind scrunched-up eyelids. It grunted and moaned and focused.

Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore. Time and boredom had lost their welcome and his newfound – and _thin_ – patience had completely run out. Despite knowing he was a tiny scrap of a ghost that couldn't possibly control a something as large and complicated as a human body, he reached for it.

His fingers slid into its hands. His feet into its shoes. He curled fingers that were suddenly _his_ and delighted when the hand in the mirror repeated the action. The next time the eyes opened, it was because _he_ wanted.

And they were glowing ectogreen. A color no human could truly comprehend.

He tipped his head, watching his reflection copy the maneuver. It felt odd and wrong – seeing the pensive frown with two green eyes over them. It was not something a ghost like him should ever be able to do. "Let me out," he said. They were the first words he'd ever said. The first sounds he had any memory of ever making. They startled him more than he wanted to admit.

The human took back control of the body easily and instantly. It flinched and stumbled backwards away from the mirror, its eyes losing their glow and fading back to blue. It huddled in a corner. _–Fear!- _"Who are you?" it asked. Its voice trembled as it stared around the tiny room. "What did you do to me?"

He didn't try to take over again. He just sat there. _I am trapped in your mind_, he told it, not knowing if the human would be able to hear.

It sat very still. "What?" it whispered.

He put as much menace into his voice as possible – which wasn't much, considering he was really a tiny bit of ghost who knew its place better than the try to threaten something like as powerful as a human. _I wish to return to my home. Let me out, human_.

"What are you?"

He forced his cold energy through the human's body, making it shiver. _I am a ghost_, he said darkly. He hoped he sounded scary and intimidating.

-_Disbelief- _It hadn't moved from its place in the corner. "A ghost?" it breathed. "Ghosts aren't real."

He was quiet, scowling. Then he reached forward and took control of its hand again. He picked it up and examined the fingers, feeling the brush of skin against skin as he rubbed his fingers together for the first time. The sensation made him shudder. _I assure you, I am very real_.

_-Terror!- _When it spoke, it was with more than a little fear in its voice."Well, get out!"

_I wish nothing more,_ he snapped back, allowing the hand to fall back under the human's control.

It pulled the hand against its chest and cradled it like it was broken. He could feel the fear leeching through the human's mind, along with a good deal of disbelief. It still wasn't sure that he was real.

_Let me go!_ he yelled.

Its head swiveled slightly. It was still trying to look for him. "I'm letting you. Leave!"

He pushed against the human's mind. He stretched and pulled and _reached_, but the human was like a back hole. The gravity of the human's soul was simply too strong. Being only a tiny ghost, and not one that should be possessing a human in the first place, he quickly tired and collapsed into an exhausted pile at the back of the human's mind.

"Are you gone?"

Unable to summon enough energy to answer, he pulled himself into a ball and let the tiredness overtake him. He wasn't sleeping – ghosts don't sleep – but the blackness was more than welcome.


	2. The Reckoning

_Thanks SapphireSecret, MsFrizzle, harusameiro, nycorrall, Hybridkylin, kdm13, Winged Element, lilyoftheval5, Samian, Fluffypuppy77, Lord of the Disc, DarkFoxKit, Invader Johnny, KTrevo, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Reckoning**

* * *

-Day 5-

Pulling himself back together enough to find out what the human was doing was exhausting. Shooting noises filled his ears. He peered blearily at a computer screen, watching the little flickering lights of the game.

He'd never seen a computer before - hadn't even known that they existed before this moment. But when he saw the screen and the lights, he'd known instantly what it was: a computer game. It took a second for him to process the idea that knowledge had just been dumped into his consciousness. But by whom?

The human?

The sounds and lights were definitely attention grabbing. He watched, intrigued but tired, for a short while. Rather quickly, the repetitive nature of the game wore thin. Shoot, get shot at, duck and run, shoot some more. He sighed, bored, and poked at the human mind, not trying to take over the body again. He dropped the 'scary ghost' act and went for plaintive and tired. _Why do you not let me leave?_

_-Startled!-_

He felt the hands twitch, then reach out and pause the game. "You're still here?" it asked softly. The human mind bordered on scared, but the sharp edge to the emotion had dulled.

_Where else can I go?_ he whispered. _I want to go home._ His mind drifted to the gentle green of his world, the faint buzzing of energy, the soft swirls of the mists, and the whispers that ran along with the wind. It was unending. Seamless. Eternal. Peaceful. He closed his eyes tightly and curled up around the memories, desperate longing filling his mind.

"It's been days," the human was saying, seemingly unaware of his drifting thoughts. "I thought you were gone."

He let out a soft groan and relaxed his tightly curled body. _I tried. I could not leave_, he admitted after a moment.

The human started to tap its finger against the computer's mouse. The distracting sensation of touch, no touch, touch, no touch, started to grind on his nerves.

"Where have you been?" it asked.

_I was tired,_ he said. _You are keeping me trapped-_

A quick shake of its head and a roll of its eyes brought his comment to a stop. _-Annoyed- _swirled out of the human, nearly drowning out the fear. "I'm not keeping you here," the human said. "I think it's pretty obvious we _both_ want you out of my head."

The feel of the mouse against its finger finally made him reach out and take control of the hand, stopping the endless tapping.

"Don't do that," the human said, -_Anxious-_ tinting its soul.

_I may do what I wish_, he shot back. _I am trapped in here. _

It scowled and crossed its arms, snatching control of its hand back easily. "Well, how do we get you out of my head then?"

Silence filled the room for a long time, broken only by the occasional sounds from the computer. _I do not know_, he finally admitted. _I just wish to leave_. Memories of his home curled through him again – stronger this time. The dark feel of his hole, his lair. The whispers of emotion that drifted past.

"What is that?"

_What?_ He jerked out of his thoughts to focus on the human.

"The green. And the mist, and the doors…" It trailed off. "It felt-"

_Those are my memories!_ Fear and anger burst into his mind. The human could see what he was thinking…? _Stay out!_

He pulled back from the human's mind, wrapping himself in his darkest memories and curling up in the furthest, darkest corner of the human's mind, barely registering the _-Surprise!- _in the human's mind. He could hear it talking – faintly – but he didn't bother to answer.

Perhaps he could wait out the human's life and leave when it died.

Living things all died eventually… right?

.

.2.

.

-Day 5-

"Ghost?"

The human's voice kept breaking through the darkness he'd attempted to hide inside. He curled up even tighter, hoping to keep away from the thick, lumbering _thing_ that had captured him.

Over the time he'd spent as a ghost, he'd often imagined his demise. As a tiny, pathetic little scrap of a spirit, there were many ways he could be destroyed. He'd generally thought the end would come from the larger, quicker, shadow-things that prowled his homeland… not this odd, fleshy beast. It was truly a monster: not even civil enough to let him stew for the rest of eternity. The other ghosts would have. Back home, the offense of bothering another's afterlife could result in utter destruction – if the offended one existed long enough to protest.

"Ghost?"

The voice had gotten much louder. It now echoed and was almost painful.

_What?_ he finally snapped back, opening his eyes long enough to see the human was still sitting in its bedroom at its computer.

"You're giving me a headache," it said. _-Annoyed- _drifted through its mind.

Pausing, he blinked at the human, distracted by the idea of a headache. Ghosts did not feel pain. _He_ didn't feel pain, didn't even know what it was before a few days ago. However, now that the human had brought it up, there was a faint… _something_… running through his mind. Was this a headache?

_I do not feel pain_, he told the human after a moment.

"Well I do," it shot back, "so stop doing whatever it is you're doing."

He sat still a moment, thinking that through. A tiny twinge of guilt ran through him at the thought of causing the human harm. He didn't like the fleshy, disgusting thing he was trapped inside, but he didn't mean to damage it. It didn't seem to be the human's fault he was locked inside of it. _I will stop_, he said plainly_, if you have come up with a plan to free me._

It shot a glance at the clock, a feeling of incredulity exploding in its brain. "In the last twenty minutes?"

The fact that so little time had passed brought him up short. It was startling how long things took, now that he understood what time was. He let out a dark, frustrated sound. _I do not want this…_ he whispered, closing his eyes and doing his best to ignore the human world. But he didn't curl up in the way that had hurt the human earlier.

As the sounds of the computer game started to enter his consciousness, he sighed. _I do not want this…_

.

.2.

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-Day 5-

He waited, only half paying attention to the human's world as the long day wore on. When the human went to eat supper, he blocked out the disgusting sensation of eating with a ferocious intensity – regardless of whether or not the human would feel pain from it. If it did not wish to feel pain each time it ate, it could cease the nauseating ritual. There was no reason he could think of for anyone – regardless of being human – to wish to _ingest_ matter. The human would be better off if he could break it of the habit.

The next time he uncurled enough to find out what was happening in the world, the human had fallen asleep. He lay in the dark, feeling the strange emptiness of the human's mind after it had curled up in bed. It was pulled away, thinking random things – _dreams_, he supposed – and had just left its body lying there.

He was little more than a scrap of a ghost, and shouldn't be thinking things like possessing humans and trying their forms on for size. But there he was, trapped in this human's mind, forced to deal with all those sickening human practices… It was a sort of reward, perhaps. To feel what it would be like to be alive and human.

Keeping a close watch on the human's sleeping mind, he reached out and grabbed hold of the form. There was absolutely no resistance. Grinning slightly, he slowly sat the body up in bed and looked around the darkened room.

The human mind didn't stir.

He ran his fingers together, then a hand through his hair, shuddering at the alien sensations of _movement_ and _touch_. The feel of the human's body actually shuddering brought him up short. He was well and truly in charge of the entire form. It was no longer the human's. It was _his_.

Breath crept in and out of his mouth and nose – he could feel it against the sensitive skin on his lips. There was something odd about being required to take in air from the outside world. He could hear his heart beating. Cautiously, hesitating any time the human mind seemed to be waking up, he stood.

His breath hitched. A strange wave of excitement flooded through him as he crept towards the door to the human's bedroom. He shook his head at the exhilarating sensation of human emotions and hormones, unable to keep down the smile. Pulling open the door, he saw the house was quiet and dark. Only small lights from the outside world and a tiny hallway light illuminated the walls and floor. "Wow," he whispered, then froze, startled by the sound of his own voice.

But nothing woke. Nothing moved. He slowly made his way down the hallway, trailing his fingers over the slightly bumpy walls. A shiver ran down his spine at the feel of the wall under his fingertips, at the soft sensation of clothes brushing his skin. There was a chill in the air, a breeze coming from the open windows that caused goosebumps to rise on his skin.

He was going to stop to feel the goosebumps when the sight of the outside world caught his gaze. "Oh, wow," he breathed, walking closer. Gone was the bright, colorful, distracting, and noisy world the human inhabited. Gone was the world that caused him so much distress.

Darkness and shadows covered everything. The colors had faded to dark blues and purples, muted shades of gray and black. Faint chirpings and whispers of sound were all the noise that broke the stillness of the world. And the sky was filled with tiny pinpricks of light that sparkled and shone.

Pushing open the window, he leaned out and stared around, grinning with delight. _This_ he could handle. This was something he could almost come to enjoy. After he was freed of this body, of this cage, he would go home and tell all the others about _this _version of the human world. This thing called _night_.

"Sweetie? What are you doing up?"

He froze at the sound of a human's voice. Slowly pulling himself back into the house, he glanced over his shoulder at the human standing behind him. It was holding a cup and wearing a long, dark-colored piece of clothing. Fear sparkled inside of him – an unwelcome sensation of his stomach dropping and claws digging into his body.

"Go back to bed," it said with a smile. "You have a long day tomorrow."

When it came closer and put its arms around him, he held himself stiff and still. The feel of its warmth against him, its disgusting fleshy processes near his body… it took all his willpower to not break away and run as fast as this human body could carry him. It finally pulled away, rubbed a hand through its hair, and vanished down the hallway.

Shaking, he made his way back to the human's bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him and settling down onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around him, curled up into a ball on the bed, and then buried himself under the human's blanket, surprised to find that made him feel slightly safer. Surely the human things wouldn't come in here and _touch_ him again.

He lay there, watching the night pass by through the window, and came to the decision that this wondrous thing – darkness and night – wasn't enough to make up for the fact that there were _humans_ contaminating this world.


	3. The School

_I get to go to my first major league baseball game today! Go Twins!_

_Thanks Wilona Riva, Halfagod, MahagonyShadow, MsFrizzle, kdm13, nycorral, BiblioMatsuri, KTrevo, SapphireSecret, Winged Element, Invade Johnny, and iloveyugiohGX93 for the reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 3: The School**

* * *

-Day 8-

Mondays were _School Days_. The human had told him this while it had been getting ready for the day, scrambling around its room and searching for the appropriate clothing. The capital letters and italics had been obvious in its thoughts and words.

But it hadn't prepared him for what _School_ actually was.

Dealing with one human mind and the feelings and sensations associated with it was tiring enough. When the human walked through the front doors and he saw the interior of the _School_ for the first time, he'd retreated far enough into a corner to cause the human to wince in pain. Humans were… _everywhere_. He'd never even thought there could be so many humans in the universe, and here they were all in one place!

The human mind laughed softly, shaking its head as it walked through the throngs of people. "This isn't very many people," it muttered under its breath.

_There are more?_ he thought, desperately not wanting to know the answer.

Thankfully, the human didn't have time to answer, having been surrounded by other humans. They called it 'Danny', and spent most of the time walking the hallway demanding to know how its weekend had gone. The Danny – since he had come to understand that it was something known as a _name_ – answered back every question with shrugs and smiles and questions about homework and never once mentioned his existence.

"But what about the… eh… glow-y problem," one of the humans asked hesitantly. This human was named The Sam, from what he could determine.

The Danny shrugged again, an odd feeling with a backpack on. -_Fear-_ whispered through its mind. "Hasn't been a problem," it answered. "Maybe its over." The Sam didn't look convinced, but The Danny didn't seem to care. "We gotta get to class."

Already, he hated hallways. Humans bumped up against The Danny's body, constantly moving and chattering and loud and colorful and… He shuddered and shrank away from the sensations, burying himself into its mind to try to keep some of the world at bay. Lying there, in the darkness, he could feel the human's thoughts a bit better. It was nervous about _School._ And it was afraid.

_You are afraid of me?_ he asked in surprise as the human walked into a room filled with chairs and small tables.

It shook its head, but didn't answer more than that. The Sam had grabbed a hold of its hand – he shuddered at the warm, sticky feel of its fingers – and pulled it towards a back table.

Knowing he wasn't going to get an answer, he delved a bit further. _Oh,_ he said, finally uncovering the thought, _you are afraid the other humans will know I am here._

The Danny scowled and a flare of -_Anger-_ washed through it.

He caught onto what the human was angry about – him digging through its thoughts – and left the human's mind alone after that. He sat back, waiting for this _School _to happen, and kept himself occupied by watching the other humans around the room. Some were drawing. Others were talking. One had its finger stuffed up its nose.

_School_ started when a larger human walked into the room and started to talk. It didn't take him long to realize the human was there to teach. A few minutes later, he stopped paying attention all together, letting himself get wrapped up in his memories of his world and his wistful longing to be back there, where things were normal and calm and peaceful.

Sciences took forever. Then Maths and Languages stretched on, despite the fact that the clock on the wall insisted they had only lasted an hour. He felt no interest in any of the subjects. Some distant memory of having attended _School_ at some point before drifted into his mind.

It had been a smaller _School_. And he'd been just a small child when he'd stopped going. He'd needed to help out at home.

The dim memory was disturbing. It was the only memory he'd ever really had of the living world, and it cemented the fact that he'd been one of these heavy, fleshy things at some point. He turned his gaze onto the human's mind, eying it in displeasure. Surely it was no coincidence that these old, human memories were resurfacing at the same time he was trapped in this living world. Memories he did not want. Memories this human, The Danny, was no doubt causing.

The lunch period found him hiding, wishing that he could turn off these feelings of eating and being around humans. But The Danny didn't seem to understand his distress, ending up sitting with the humans and talking and eating through the entire period.

It was after lunch that The Danny walked into Histories. "Oh, yay," The Danny muttered under its breath, not sounding happy at all. "Lancer's back from being sick."

He churned the idea of being _sick_ over in his mind a few times, deciding what it meant and whether or not he thought it was a good idea. Then he focused on the human in front of the room. _It looks fine_, he commented.

"It?" The Danny whispered, shaking its head. "He doesn't look good."

_It has a head and two arms and two legs,_ he said, watching the adult human – The Lancer – walk around. _I do not see anything missing_.

The Danny laughed softly, shaking its head. "Yeah, no," it said quietly. "That's not how it works."

He studied The Lancer a moment longer before dismissing it from his mind. _Have you come up with a way to free me yet?_

The Lancer chose that moment to begin class, so his only reply was a shake of The Danny's head. The adult human walked around, talking on and on about the Revolutionary War. "You should have learned this," it chided, when the younger humans were unable to answer its questions. "The sub covered this."

"Doesn't mean we learned it," a younger human named The Tucker muttered softly.

"I heard that, Mr. Foley," The Lancer said warningly.

"Of course you did," The Tucker breathed.

The Lancer turned and started asking questions about battles and humans and things that had been written and… and…

He stared blankly at the adult human. Those names, those places… many of them sounded familiar to him. Memories of being a warm, smoky place filled with humans, listening to stories drifted through his mind. He pushed away from them, unsettled by the memories.

"What's wrong?" the human breathed, drawing his attention away from the faint memories starting to swirl around him.

He hesitated, startled that The Danny had noticed. _I remember this_, he told it.

It arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more.

He could feel its curiosity, though. _I have memories of listening to this before_, he repeated, uneasily watching The Lancer continue to pace and talk. _Mother used to call General Washington a large pest with too much money for his own good_.

The Danny snorted a laugh.

He was uneasy with the memory. The comment – a remembered quote from his past – had slipped into his mind without a second thought. He wasn't even sure where it had come from. And the thought that he'd once had a mother… one that he couldn't remember… He shifted away from the thoughts and tried to huddle into a dark corner.

"You were alive back then!" the human hissed, -_Realization—_rushing through its mind.

"Mr. Fenton?" The Lancer called.

The Danny stiffened. "Yes, sir?"

"Feel like sharing your new-found knowledge with the rest of the class?" The Lancer was glaring down at The Danny.

Uneasily, The Danny shrugged. "Um…" it hesitated, "General Washing was a large pest with too much money for his own good?"

He felt a wave of annoyance that the human had stolen his words, but refrained from commenting while the adult human was standing nearby.

"That doesn't quite answer the question," it said slowly after a moment, its hands crossed over its chest, "but that is a correct assumption to make. The Loyalists often considered George Washington more of a pest than a revolutionary at the time. Good thought, Mr. Fenton." It eyed The Danny. "I appreciate that your wandering thoughts have something to do with the topic."

When The Lancer wandered off, he relaxed slightly, and felt The Danny sink back into its chair. It breathed out, blowing hair around its eyes. "Yay," it whispered.

Slowly, unsteadily, he reached forwards and pushed his mind against its hands. The Danny flinched and clenched its fingers, but then relaxed them. He slid his fingers into the heavy, fleshy hands and twitched them. The human flinched slightly, but otherwise didn't react. He picked up the hands, absently rubbing the fingers together and getting used to the odd sensation of _touch_ again. Then he flipped through a few pages in the book on the table, running his fingers lightly over the glossy pictures. _ I think I was alive during this time_, he said, releasing the hands back to its control. Its fingers flexed a few times, then picked up its pencil to fiddle with. _But I do not remember it_.

Disappointment drifted briefly through the human's mind. "There goes the easy A this year," it mumbled.

He didn't understand the words 'easy A', but latched onto the time period of 'year'. It took a few seconds for the understanding of how long a _year_ actually was to filter into his mind, and he froze, floored by the idea of that much time. An hour was a long time. And a year had thousands of them in it!

_I am not staying trapped in this lumbering form for an entire year!_ he snapped, alarmed and afraid that the human meant to keep him locked in its mind that long.

_-Frustration_\- flared sharply in its mind.

He pushed forwards, feeling almost like he was aiming a punch for its nose. _You will free_-

The world felt like it tipped over. Very suddenly, he felt _everything_, like he had at night when he'd taken over and walked down to the window. The scrap of a pencil in his thick, heavy fingers. The hardness of the chair. The tightness of his shoes. The itchy tag of his shirt. Bones and muscles weighed him down. His mouth moved, letting out an annoyed, "-me".

He froze, holding very still as he processed what had just happened. For just a moment, he wondered if he weren't free of the human's mind – that it had vacated the body and left it for him. He struggled for a moment with the deluge of information and sensation pouring into his mind.

_What did you do_? The human's voice was a hiss from somewhere inside his head near his left ear. _Let me go!_

He tipped his head to the side, feeling the change in his ears, feeling the hair drift across his forehead. No, the human wasn't gone. But he was in charge. A proper possession – something a ghost as powerless as he shouldn't even have dreamt could happen. It caused a stir of pride in his chest.

His chest. His fingers. His body. It wasn't the ethereal energy he'd been hoping for when he'd demanded to be freed, but to be properly in charge of a body was a step in the right direction. The pencil wiggled distractedly in his fingers – a strange sensation that caught his attention for a moment.

_Let me go, now!_

"I don't think so," he breathed, a smile on his face. "This is how it should be, if I am to be trapped in a human body."

A wash of sensation swept through him, causing him to wince and his breath to catch. This was pain – this was the feeling the human had talked about earlier. The voice was screaming, flailing around, and struggling to regain control of its body.

He closed his eyes as the feeling of pain increased. It felt like something was being dug into the left side of his head. He pressed a hand to it, hoping to ease the pain. His stomach churned uneasily. "Stop," he demanded, trying to keep his voice quiet.

_It's my body!_ it yelled. _Give it back!_

He tried to come up with a response, but the pain escalated to something white-hot and burning. With a desperate groan, he felt himself let go.

The pain stopped almost instantly. He found himself back into the human's mind, tired and exhausted and still aching from the experience.

The Danny didn't fair much better. It was in pain as it slowly got to its feet, numbly agreeing with The Lancer to go to a place called The Nurse.

He didn't bother to pay attention. Even before it had stumbled out of the classroom, he'd curled up in the darkness of the human's mind and let exhaustion overtake him.

.

.3.

.

-Day 9-

"Oh great, you're back again," the human mumbled darkly. "And in the middle of the night, too." It was curled up someplace warm and soft, its eyes closed and its body relaxed.

_I have no place to go_, he informed it stiffly. _Unless you have a way to free me._

"I've had a severe headache for hours," it muttered, curling up into a tighter ball. "So… no. Now, leave me alone to sleep."

He pulled back, allowing the human to fall back asleep. It took only a few minutes for its mind to start drifting randomly and pull away from the body he was trapped inside. It took a very short period of time before he realized sitting here, watching the human sleep, would be very boring. So, slowly, keeping an eye on the sleeping human mind, he reached for control the body.

Opening his eyes, he stretched – feeling the fleshy, heavy body move with him – stunned by the sensation of moving his arms and legs after they'd been asleep for several hours. It was so pleasant he tried it again, delighting in the feeling. The human mind didn't stir, apparently unaware of the feelings in its body.

A smile slipped onto his face as he sat up and pushed the blankets away. A tiny alarm clock read 6:30, and morning sunlight gleamed through the shade. He rubbed his fingers together, then brought them up to his face to examine closer. He studied the bumps and ridges, the speckles and spots and little white scars. The sensations of _touch_ and _movement_ were sharp and strong – definitely _more_ than when he was trapped in its mind.

His fingers drifted lazily over the soft blankets, then through the scraggily hair growing on his leg. He brought his hands up to his face, feeling the fingers brush against his face, then pressed a hand to his chest to feel the slow movement of his lungs and heart. It was odd.

A sharp rapping noise filled the room with noise. He jerked, instinctively swiveling his head towards the door. The sound brought a curious sensation – his heart started to race.

"Danny! Get up!"

He focused on the human mind a moment, but it didn't seem to hear the yelling. It was just curled up in the corner of his mind and continued to sleep. He didn't know what to do, so he just sat there, staring at the door.

"Danny!" The doorknob turned and a human poked its head around the door. It had red hair and blue clothes – it was the human from the previous night. "Da- Oh, you're already up." It looked confused, but smiled. "Why didn't you say something? Your father's making pancakes. Hurry up and get dressed."

The door snapped closed behind it, leaving him sitting on the bed and watching the door in nervous confusion. Would the door open again? Would other humans come to bother him?

In his world, doors lead to the lairs of the strongest and meanest ghosts. They weren't to be bothered. Opening the doors to their home would leave the offender severely hurt – if not destroyed. Was that the case in this world as well? Should he have attacked this human who dared enter his space? Having never had a door to his lair – preferring his hole – he wasn't even sure the proper attack to use.

He poked at the human mind, wanting to ask it that question. But it ignored him. Scowling, annoyed, he crossed his arms and contemplated what to do.

_Hurry up and get dressed_, the human had told him. Finally, with a shrug, he decided he would follow the direction. The Danny had done so the previous day. Perhaps it was something humans did every morning. He pushed himself out of the bed, enjoying the curious feeling of movement, and starting to pick through the drawers.

The human seemed to have a vast array of clothing options. Eventually he located a shirt he liked – white, with a strange red dot – and the pair of pants the human had worn earlier. It took a moment to figure out how to get them on, but he managed and glanced into the small mirror in its room to determine if he looked appropriate. With few memories to work with, he thought he looked fine.

Making his way downstairs, he found a group of humans crowded around a table. He stood in the doorway, watching, not wanting to come into contact with any of them. It was disgusting, watching them eat and put things in their mouths. Saliva dripped and drooled, teeth gnashed through the food. He barely suppressed a shudder.

One of them turned towards him and he could see the half-digested food in its mouth when he spoke. "Come eat, Danno!" it called.

He drew back slightly, swallowing heavily, and shook his head. Anxiety twisted at him – what if they made him eat as well?

Another of the humans – the red-haired one from earlier – looked up. "Are you okay, Sweetie?"

He curled his arms over his chest, then realized it was waiting for a response. He nodded and took another step backwards.

"New hair style, then?" it asked with a smile. It held out a plate filled with food. "I saved you some. Come eat."

He felt his stomach drop to his knees. He couldn't possibly eat even a bite of that… _stuff_… much less a whole plate filled with it! He shook his head, but realized he wouldn't be able to get out of this without speaking. "I am not hungry," he said softly, hoping he sounded like the human did.

The humans didn't seem to notice. The red-haired one just nodded and set the plate down. "Have a nice day then, Sweetheart."

He nodded frantically and raced out of the house. He front door clicked closed behind him and he shivered, shaking his head. How any human could be part of that disgusting display was beyond him. And they seemed to insist upon doing it multiple times a day!

The ground was hard and cold under his feet as he paced on the sidewalk in front of the human's house. A rock jabbed into his heel before he stopped and looked down at his feet. He remembered shoes, then, curling his toes. With a dark sigh, he looked towards the house – he knew the humans were still eating – and thought about shoes. They were trapped near the door. He could probably sneak in and get them without the humans noticing.

It would be better if he were invisible, however. Even a tiny bit of ghost like him could do invisible.

…And then he was.

He didn't have to look down at his hands to know he was invisible. It was a feeling, like it always had been – cool and comforting and ethereal. For a moment, he thought himself free of the human. Finally, free.

But he could still feel his feet, toes curled on the sidewalk. And breath slipping in and out his nose. He was still in the human body. Just… invisible.

Not understanding, but not willing to worry about something as mundane as being invisible, he walked back to the house, slipped through the front door, and managed to locate his shoes. He went back outside again to put them on, figuring he'd need to be able to see the human feet in order to put on something like _shoes_. Ghosts didn't ever put on shoes. It would be a first for him.

Tying the laces was another matter entirely. After a solid fifteen minutes of holding the laces and glaring, the shoes failed to tie themselves. But after an experimental few steps, he decided the shoes seemed to stay on without the tying part, and so shrugged and left the laces dangling.

It was cool this early in the morning. The sun was a bright glow on the horizon. It hurt his eyes. The wind was a curious feeling against his skin, gently brushing his hair around. As he slowly wandered down the street, he watched the trees gleam green and sway in the wind, and the birds flit from branch to branch, and the dogs run around their yards. Humans were few and far between, mostly hidden in their _cars_ – a new term he'd learned this morning for the odd devices that allowed the fleshy creatures to travel much to fast for their heavy bodies.

Night was something he loved. But this morning… this wasn't too bad. As he found a park to walk through, trailing his fingers through the cold dew gathered on the bushes and feeling his feet get wet, he found a smile on his face. With the humans gone from this place, the lights and colors and sensations weren't all that unbearable. He crouched down to study the little droplets of light glittering on a spider web.

Nothing like this existed in his world. The world of the dead was ethereal and beautiful and cold and deadly. The spider's web was the same. The sunlight sparkled in the dewdrops like little rainbows. He felt a smile creep onto his face.

Oh yes. This morning thing wasn't too bad at all.

A flitting bird caught his attention and he jerked his head up, following the movement. Unfortunately, it also seemed to have woken up the sleeping human mind.

Unwilling to deal with the headache that would no doubt follow him struggling to retain control of the body, he released it to the human's control. "What? Where are we?" The human looked around. -_Confused-_

_I went for a walk to the park_, he told it blandly. _You were sleeping and the red-haired human wanted you out of bed._

"What?" Its voice escalated to a near shout. "You… you… took my body _for a walk_?!" _-Anger-_ sliced through its mind.

_You were asleep_, he repeated.

"Don't ever do that again," it hissed as it started to search its pockets. "And I don't have my phone… what time is it?"

_Ghosts don't worry about time_, he told it blandly, relaxing back into the darkness of the human's mind. _Why do you care?_

It started to walk quickly towards home, moving much, much faster than he had. It had to stop after just a few steps, though, to tie its shoes. "It's Tuesday. I have to be at school before eight."

He thought about that a moment. _I do not like School._

"Neither do I," it muttered darkly. "But it's non-optional."

_When will you free me?_

The Danny broke into a run, cursing when it noticed a clock through someone's window. "As soon as I can," it said, frustrated and already panting. "Couldn't you have at least grabbed my backpack and went for a walk in the right direction?"

He didn't bother to reply, curling up in a dark corner of the human's mind and relaxing, replaying his morning walk over and over again.

He would have to experience that again.


	4. The Understanding

_Anyone want to join me in the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge for July? I'm looking for cabin mates!_

_Thanks to Ann-Stripes, thunderstorm101, kdm13, nycorrall, BiblioMatsuri, KTrevo, Winged Element, MsFrizzle, Silvershadow471, DarkFoxKit, maltese, Invader Johnny, Samian, and iloveyugiohGX93 for the reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Understanding**

* * *

-Day 9-

_Do all humans have names?_ The question had been dinging around in his mind since he learned of The Dash, The Valerie, and The _Paulina_ – who, for some reason, existed in italics in The Danny's mind. The Danny was sitting in The Library for something called Detention. It had apparently been late to _School_ that morning. Although the human continued to blame him for walking around town, he just shrugged and couldn't understand why The Danny went every day to something it didn't enjoy.

"Yes, all humans have names," it muttered. It had its head buried in its arms at the moment, trying to take a nap – so it claimed.

_Why?_

It picked its head up for a second, -_Annoyance-_ coloring its thoughts as it peering around, then sighed and let its head fall back down. "Because."

He didn't quite understand the concept. _Most ghosts don't have names_.

"Then how do you know who you're talking to?" it mumbled.

_You are there. You are speaking to them. What is the point of a name?_ He waited for a reply, but the human seemed to be finished with the train of thought. It pushed him away slightly, curling its arms tighter around its head. _I do not have a name and you do not seem to mind._

This caused it to pause. -_Startled!-_ "You don't have a name?"

_Why would I need one?_

It shook its head after a moment. "There's something wrong with you."

He snorted and poked at it. _I disagree. Now that you wish to talk – I wish to be free of this form._

"I heard," it said with a sigh. "I heard the first time, the tenth time, and the thousandth time. It doesn't change the problem that I don't know how to get you gone."

_Yet you have done nothing to free me_.

"You haven't done anything either!" it exclaimed, trying to keep its voice at a whisper.

_I am trapped in this form. I cannot leave, and I cannot control this body without your permission. _He scowled and prowled around, feeling annoyance start to curl into his thoughts. _I am essentially your prisoner. I am dependent upon you to solve the problem._

It frowned in thought. "You're the ghost. Shouldn't you know what to do?"

He settled back in its mind, frustrated. _I am not a ghost who normally could possess a human_, he said. _This is not something I know._

"Yeah, well its not something I know either," the human muttered darkly. "I'm not sure why you think I would."

He sighed and shook his head. _I have no other option._

The timer sitting on the desk chose that moment to go off. The Danny jumped, then grinned. "Can I go?" it said, grabbing its backpack and getting to its feet.

The human at the desk eyed The Danny. Then the timer. Then back at The Danny. "Fine," it said gruffly. "Scram."

It was almost out of The Library before it spoke again, this time in a hushed whisper. "I'm meeting Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger. Can you stay quiet until we get home?"

He thought about it, agreed with the thought – the Nasty Burger was an eating establishment, apparently, and he wanted nothing to do with it – and curled up in a corner of its mind to think.

"Ghost?"

He smirked to himself and followed the request. He didn't answer.

.

.4.

.

-Day 9-

"Great," the human muttered as it dropped its backpack on the floor. -_Frustrated- _"Detention at school – for something that's not even my fault – and now I'm grounded _because_ I got detention." It dropped onto its bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. "You hear that, Ghost? You're causing me nothing but problems."

_My name is not Ghost,_ he told it blandly. _I do not have a name_.

"Yeah, well, I gotta call you something," it said darkly. "Until you're gone, anyways."

_You have a plan?_ He drew closer to the human mind, interested.

"No." It threw its arm over its eyes, causing the world to go black.

He scowled at the lack of sight. The lights and colors were distracting and brilliant, but the pressure of the arm against his nose wasn't pleasant, and he sort of enjoyed making pictures out of the strange stains on its ceiling. _Then I am trapped in this form forever._

"Forever is a long time," the human muttered. "I won't live that long."

_I will_.

The human took its arm away, blinking in surprise. "I… guess you will," it said slowly. "But what do you want me to do, anyways? Magically come up with a way to get you out of my head? I dunno how you got _into_ my head!"

A strange twinge of the human's emotion came with that last statement. He leaned closer, poking at the human mind. _Are you sure you do not?_ he asked slowly.

Its face warmed. It was a curious sensation that took him a moment to understand -_Embarrassed.-_ "Well, maybe... I might kinda know."

He went very still. _Maybe?_

"See, I was down in the lab. And my parents told me not to, but Sam and Tucker wanted me to, and… and I did. And there was this hole in the wall that my parents had been working on. A Ghost Portal, or whatever."

He didn't understand what all the words meant. But he listened to what it said very carefully.

"And I kinda tripped on some wires, and pushed this button, and it turned on. There was this flash of light. And… and… um… then you were in my head."

He sat still, processing that. He remembered the flash of light. The rip in the world. _You were the one who made the light._

"Yeah," it said softly.

_The light that took me from my world and trapped me here, in this form._

"That I don't know," it muttered, "but probably."

He had never felt anger quite like this. It raced through his entire being, making him feel like he was on fire. _It was YOU that trapped me in this world! YOU who stole me from my home and made me captive here!_ He pushed against the human mind, furiously stealing control of the body. He sat up before the human could take it back. There was a sharp sting of pain in his mind, but he ignored it.

"It wasn't my plan-" it started.

_You have lied to me,_ he interrupted furiously. _I had begun to believe you, human. But humans are not to be trusted. Humans cannot be trusted. Humans are too short-lived and heavy to understand the meaning and power of truth_.

"I didn't!" it argued back, his voice rising. "I didn't lie to you. And besides, it was an accident-"

The door to the bedroom opened. A red-haired human stuck its head through the door. "Danny… are you okay?" It sounded concerned.

"I'm fine," The Danny answered hotly. "Go away, Jazz."

"You don't sound okay," the other human said, pushing the door open further.

The Danny got up and pushed the door closed, firmly locking the other human in the hallway. "None of your beeswax," it said, sliding down the door to rest on the ground with its back against the door.

He waited a beat for the human to leave, his fury abated slightly by the desire to not let the other humans know he was there. _I wish to be free of you_._ Especially now that I know you are like the rest of your disgusting kind: not to be trusted._

"No shit."

An idea struck him. _The other humans of this house created the device that trapped me._

"Yeah," it said, arms across its chest, still angry.

_Then they should be able to free me._

The Danny blinked, startled. "What? No-"

_I will be free_, he said, reaching for control of the body. Anger fueled his movements and gave him energy to ignore the pain that suddenly echoed through his mind, sharp and blinding.

It yelped in agony. "Stop that!" it yelled, pushing him back.

_I wish to leave. Let me,_ he demanded.

-_Fear!- _"You can't tell them," it said desperately, rubbing at its head and scrambling to its feet. "Nothing they build really works. Well, except the Portal, and I think that was more me than them… or maybe you…"

He paced back and forth in its mind, desperately seeking a way to lose the pent up energy in his mind. _Do you have another idea, human?_

There was a long period of silence before the human's shoulders drooped. "No," it whispered.

_Then you will tell them_. He waited, eying the human's mind. He could almost hear its thoughts churning. It was somehow -_Angry!-_, and -_Sad-_, and -_Frustrated!-_, and _-Afraid-_ all at the same time.

Eventually, it said, "I can't. You have no idea what you're asking."

_I know what I am asking. I am asking to be freed of this torture._ He reached out for a hand and, surprisingly, the human gave way. He clenched the fingers into a fist a few times, then rubbed the tips of the fingers together. _I will tell them._

The human didn't answer, just slowly shook its head, then retreated when he reached forwards to control more of the body. It took only a moment for him to be in complete control. He waited a beat, getting used to the sensation, and then walked towards the door. The human didn't argue.

He hesitated, surprised that after all the arguing it had done it was simply giving up, but he grabbed the doorknob and pushed open the door. He strode down the hallway and into the kitchen, finding one of the adult humans sitting at the kitchen table. It was large - and eating. He wrinkled his nose at the sight. "Which is this?" he whispered as he hovered in the doorway.

The Danny didn't answer.

"Fine," he said darkly, storming across the kitchen to stand near the table, his arms crossed over his chest.

The adult human paused from its eating and looked up at him. This one was orange and larger than the others, its lips smeared with a thick brown substance. "Dann-o," it greeted happily. "Fudge?"

He flicked a glance at the hand holding out a piece of gooey brown. He was about to shake his head and explain the situation – demand to be freed – when something odd happened. He _remembered_.

He remembered sitting in a boat with this creature. They'd both been holding some sort of pole with line on it. He'd just caught a slimy thing and this human had picked him up and set him on its shoulders. On the drive home, it had gotten him a cup that read, 'World's Best Fisherman'.

It was not a memory that belonged to him. This was not something he'd ever experienced. It was something from the human mind, The Danny.

There was an emotion with it he couldn't explain. Couldn't understand. It made him hesitate and lose track of his thoughts.

It put the piece of sticky fudge in its mouth and chewed loudly. Brownish drool oozed from a corner of its mouth. Thoroughly distracted from his goal, he shuddered and turned and walked away.

_You aren't going to tell him_? it whispered in his mind.

He didn't answer. He stepped out onto the front steps and stared up at the evening sky. It would be night soon. The last bit of sunshine was warm on his skin.

There was a reason the human mind didn't want the other humans aware of him. There was that emotion he didn't understand. And there was an eternity stretched before him – what was a few more days of waiting to make sure he understood what was going on?

"Not yet," he breathed.


	5. The Flight

_Thanks Kiomori, MsFrizzle, KTrevo, BiblioMatsuri, Fiddlehoffer, nycorrall, Invader Johnny, DarkFoxKit, Winged Element, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Flight**

* * *

-Day 13-

He kept quiet and hidden for a few days, simply watching what the humans did and biding his time. The Danny was nervous and anxious, but slowly relaxed again as time passed.

It was late Saturday night when he became bored with simply waiting. He prodded the sleeping human mind a few times, decided it was properly out for the night, and then took over the body again. His fingers slipped into the body's fingers, his feet into human feet, and he could _feel_ again.

Over the long hours of the last few days, he'd almost started to miss the sensations of a human body. How sharp and present everything was – smells, and sights, and touch, and movement. It was almost a relief to be free to feel them again. Perhaps it was a bad sign: he was starting to get used to this human cage.

He slipped out from under the blankets and paced around the human's bedroom, changing into a set of clothes. It took awhile to find the white shirt he'd put on the last time – for some reason, it was buried under a pile of socks. Shoes went on, but he didn't bother with the ties. After carefully watching the other human teenagers, he'd decided that tying shoes was something optional.

It stood to reason, at least in his mind, that since he'd been able to turn invisible the other day, then the other abilities he'd had as a ghost should be there as well. He walked over to the door, stared at it for a second, then pushed against it with his hand. A smile flickered onto his face when his hand passed through the door with just the faintest tingling. "That's two…" he whispered, walking soundlessly through the house and then through the front door and into the darkness.

The night was dark. Shadows lingered in the corners and the wind whispered possibilities through the trees. All the bright colors were muted and tinged with emptiness. He stood on the front step, staring up at the clouds that were slowly moving in front of the moon. "And three?" he breathed, _pushing_ against the ground.

Very slowly, his feet left the ground. He couldn't stop the delighted laugh as he felt the heavy human body free itself from the cloying gravity. He was suddenly weightless, moving through the sky effortlessly and quickly. With a single, easy thought, he shot upwards towards the clouds.

He'd never felt the sensation of speed before. As a ghost, he'd objectively known whether he was traveling fast or slow, but he'd had no form to determine what the difference in speed felt like. This…

His breath was stolen away. His heart raced in his chest and his whole body tingled with adrenaline. He ducked and wove through the sky, chasing imaginary ghosts around and imagining what it would be like to be back in his world, surrounded by the ghosts, showing off a human form, reveling in how jealous the other ghosts would be.

Up and up he flew until he was brushing against the lowest hanging clouds. They were cold and wet on his body when he blasted through them, little dewdrops clinging to his hair and clothes. Then he plummeted Earthwards, unconsciously holding his breath as the solid ground raced towards him. He pulled up at the last moment, laughing, and settled back down on his feet.

He felt lightheaded. He twirled around a few times, giggling with delight, and collapsed onto the grass. It was only then that he noticed he was missing a shoe. "Oh well," he muttered. "I'm sure it has more shoes."

It was such a relief, to know he could feel not so heavy when he wanted to, to know he could leave the lumbering humans behind and do what _he_ wanted. The sky was his.

He lay on the grass, watching the clouds pass over the moon, until the morning light started to gleam over the horizon. It was only then than he picked himself up and flew lazily towards the human's home – stopping only when he spotted the shoe dangling from a branch a few blocks away. He made it home, undressed, and curled the body up in the bed just in time for the alarm clock to ring.

.

.5.

.

-Day 15-

For a couple nights afterwards, he took the body out at night, giving the human space during the day to live its life. He sat back and watched, waited, and bided his time. He learned quite a few new things that way.

First and foremost was a long list of disgusting human habits he wished to purge from his mind. Many things happened in a room known as The Bathroom that he never wanted to experience again. An object known as The Toilet had earned a top spot on his list of things to avoid. The Gym had brought around a new horror known as sweating. And The _Paulina_ had created disturbing changes in his host's body. The Danny frustratingly refused to explain any of them.

On the other hand, he learned what a poem was. The Lancer had read it during one of their classes. The Danny hadn't liked it. Its eyes had gone blurry and it doodled a picture on its paper, but he had listened. There had been something interesting about it that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Also, he'd discovered the portal in the basement. The Danny had gone down there to bring pizza to its parents and he'd gotten to see the portal for the first time. The ethereal, inhuman green. The gentle swirling of the mist. It had been a heart-sickening reminder of his lost home. The Danny had eaten pizza downstairs that evening, doing its best to ignore its parents. He hadn't paid much attention to the eating. His focus had been on the portal.

That night – the third night – he wandered over to the park, looked around, then took off for the sky. There were no clouds. The moon gleamed bright overhead. He did several stomach-churning loop-the-loops before something new happened: the human woke up.

Deep in his mind, he'd known the blissful quiet of the night could only have lasted for so long. It was disappointing, for it to be over after only a few nights.

Unfortunately for the human, he'd been in the middle of a dizzying barrel roll when it woke up. The Danny yelped, instinctively grabbing hold of its body. He let it, trying to avoid the searing pain arguing with the human caused. The body quickly started to tumble, uncontrolled, through the cool fall air. "Stop!" it screamed. "Stop it!" _-Fear!-_ blasted through its mind.

_I am not doing anything_, he replied blandly. _It is you who should do something._

The tumble turned into a wild spin. Air whipped past them, stealing the human's words even as it tried to speak. "I can't! Do something!" Tears were forming in its eyes. _-Panic!-_ had taken control of its thoughts.

He mentally shrugged and reached out for control of the body. The human mind retreated. It took only a moment for him to stop the tumble and set the body on a slow glide back up through the air.

_What are you doing?_ it screamed in his mind. It seemed to be fixated on the twinkling lights of the human town far below. _-Fear!-_ still clouded its thoughts.

"I am flying." He flipped over so he was staring up at the moon. He thought it would take The Danny's mind off the distant ground.

_But why?_ It sounded almost desperate.

"All ghosts fly," he answered dismissively, arms behind his head. "I enjoy flying."

It was quiet a moment. _I'm not a ghost, I'm human_, it said. _I don't fly_._ Humans don't fly. We fall._

He ran a tongue over his teeth, then stretched out and turned back over, twisting into a short dive and skidding left and right through the night air. The human mind winced at each turn. "This body flies well, for a human form."

_I don't like it._ The voice was nearly a whine. _Humans aren't supposed to fly._

"Agreed, human." He nodded his head, happy to be in complete agreement with the human on this thought. "You may go back to sleep. I wish to fly and be alone."

_But…_ it hesitated. _But what if you fall? I'll die._

"Death is not so bad," he answered. "And falling is also not so bad. It is actually quite fun."

The Danny made a protesting noise. _I don't think-_

He sighed, rolled his shoulders slightly, and then took a step backwards in his mind, _pushing_ against the human mind. It took over the body again with a start – and instantly started to fall. Arms and legs flailed. It screamed.

_We are several thousand feet up_, he commented, leaning back to enjoy the feel of the air rushing past them. _Although falling is fun, I would suggest learning to fly before you hit the ground._

"Don't do this!" it begged as its fall started to turn into a slow tumble. "I don't want to die!"

_Yet your death would free me from this form._ _A short burst of pain in exchange for a return to my home. _The thought had merit, actually. He eyed the ground slowly rotating below them.

The comment didn't seem to make the human any happier. Its flailings grew, turning the slow tumble back into a wild spin. "Help!" it screamed. A new emotion, -_Terror!_\- screamed though the human's body, making him wince in surprise.

He eyed the ground again, then dismissed the idea of letting the human die. It very clearly didn't want to, and he wasn't that determined to return to his home yet. There were several things in this world he still wished to understand. _Then fly._

"I can't!" it choked out between screams.

He poked at the human mind. _You have few other options available. Feel the wind in your fingers. Forget the pull of the ground. You are ephemeral and cold and nothing but energy._

"But I'm not," it cried. "I'm made of stuff! Matter! I can't!"

_Matter and energy are the same. It does not matter which you are made of. Now fly._

The human screamed loudly when one of its spinning flips took it within sight of the lights of the town. Its falling body was maybe four hundred feet above the ground.

_You have little time left,_ he commented.

It made no move to fly. It made no move to even _try_. So he waited, patient and unending, until the body was mere feet from the ground. It was only at the last moment that he reached out and took over, jerking the body out of its dead spin. His fingers traced over the blades of grass as he flattened out their dive.

The human mind was sobbing. It seemed to be trapped in memories of its life – several of which spilled over into his mind. He shook his head sharply, dislodging some of the sharper ones.

While it calmed down, he flew gently and sedately through the park's trees, weaving cleanly around the trunks. "I do not understand your fear of falling."

_It's not the fall, it's the abrupt stop at the end_, the human said furiously. _And now I really want you out of my head!_

He let out a heavy sigh. "You do not understand," he said gently. "Watch."

The next tree in the park was a big one with a thick trunk, scraggily bark, and winding, shadowed branches spread into the sky. He flipped onto his side and aimed straight for it.

The closer he got, the more the human panicked. _I don't want to die!_ it screamed. _Stop!_

He ignored the demand, refusing to change direction. Suddenly the human started to grapple for control of the body. Pain flooded his head, distracting him just at the wrong moment –

There was the sound of breaking twigs as he slammed into the tree's branches. His head spun and he felt lightheaded as he slowly moved his arms and legs and worked out which way was up. "Ow," he hissed, surprised at the amount of pain. He hadn't thought he was going very fast.

_I told you,_ it snapped.

"No," he said angrily. "I only hit the tree because you distracted me. Now _watch_." He jerked himself into a sitting position, unwrapped his fingers from the tree branches, and then pushed his hand right through the tree trunk.

He could feel the blankness that filled the human mind. -_Stunned-_ It couldn't find anything to say.

"I cannot hit the tree," he said furiously. "I _will_ not hit the tree. I will not hit the ground." He wiggled his fingers, enjoying the strange, slightly tingling sensation of having his human hand phased through the tree. "I am a ghost. I can go where I want and through what I want."

The Danny shuddered inside of his mind. _There's something wrong with this_.

He sneered slightly. "Get used to it, human, if you will not free me."

_Can you please not have my hand inside the tree anymore? How can you stand it?_

With a sigh, he let his hand drop to his lap. "I am a ghost," he repeated, stretching out his legs. There was a twinge in one of them from where it had hit the tree. "It is something ghosts do."

_It's unnatural._

"There is something wrong with you, human." He got to his feet with a shake of his head, carefully balancing on the branch. One of his shoes was missing again. "Do you really know nothing of ghosts, after professing your parents are the world's leading ghost scientists?"

The Danny felt small in his mind. It must be curled up and trying to stay away from the sensation of height. _I don't listen to them,_ it admitted after a moment. _I…_ It broke off with a swirl of -_Frustration_\- _That was a stupid way to prove a point._

"It would not have been," he replied as he pushed himself out of the tree and back into the air in search of his missing shoe. "If you had not distracted me, I would not have hit the tree." He hovered a moment before seeing it lying on the ground – the collision with the tree must have knocked it loose. After dropping down to grab it and carefully fit it back onto his foot, he took off towards the clouds.

_Can't we go back to bed? I don't want to fly_. It shuddered in his mind.

He picked a twig out of his hair and twirled in a slow loop. "Then go back to sleep," he muttered. The wind took his words away, but he knew the human mind would hear them. _"_If you are to keep me trapped here, I will fly."

_I can't sleep anymore_. It poked at him – a curious feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He wondered a moment if the human felt that sensation when he gabbed at its mind. _Can we fly lower?_

With a roll of his eyes, he rocketed upwards, peaking out at just above the low clouds, and did his best to ignore the pestering human mind.

.

.5.

.

-Day 16-

He walked into The Danny's house after school the next day, stopping at the doorway in confusion. The two human adults were standing on tall ladders. The inside of the house was a mess – the couch overturned, things scattered across the floor, and what appeared to be a large box of wires sitting in the middle of it all.

He watched quietly, poking at the human mind to see if it would wake. He had wanted to walk home on his own, and the Danny had taken the opportunity to get in a nap, claiming, of all things, that he'd kept it up all night with his 'stupid flying stunt'. The human ignored his prodding.

He'd generally assumed the humans liked their house somewhat clean and organized. The Danny complained about needing to clean its room often enough. Not wishing to disturb whatever strange human ritual this was, he stood quietly and watched.

"Oh, Sweetie, you're home."

Flinching slightly, he looked up into one of the human's gaze. It was the red-haired one. "Yes," he said in reply.

It climbed down the ladder and threw an arm around his shoulders. He flinched, but kept himself from pulling away. "We had a little problem today," it said slowly. "But your father and I are taking care of it and making sure it can't happen again."

"What happened?" he asked, hoping he sounded enough like The Danny to prevent it from asking too many questions.

It hesitated. "A very troubled young man wanted to get into our lab while we were out shopping today," it said. "He got quite a few of our blueprints before we walked in on him." It sighed and looked around the destroyed living room. "Made a bit of a mess on his way out, I'm afraid."

"Oh," he said. He still wasn't quite sure what the human was talking about.

"But!" It pointed at the wires and at small things all over the house. "We're installing a new state of the art security system. Cameras. Sensors. Even a panic button!" It pulled him over to the stairs and pointed out a bright red button, thankfully removing its arm from around his shoulders.

The other human put in, "I'm installing them all over the house. And we're ghost-proofing the whole deal while we're at it." It seemed to puff up a little, standing at the top of its ladder. "We'll have the safest house in the city. Safe from ghosts and humans!"

"Ah," he said, when the humans seemed to be looking for him to add to the conversation. He shifted, trying to find something interesting to include. "It looks complicated."

"Extremely," the red-haired human said with a grin. "We'll be working on it all night." It gave him a push towards the stairs. "Why don't you work on your homework while your father and I clean this up?"

He accepted the excuse to leave the humans behind. He hurried up the steps, glancing back once he reached the relative safety of the upstairs landing. Poking at the human mind – a bit harder – he stalked towards its bedroom.

The third human poked its head out of a door. "You hear what happened?" it asked.

He paused with a sigh, not wanting to get caught in another conversation. "Yes."

"And did you notice that our parents seem almost _happy_ that our house was broken into by a crazy person?" it pressed, eyes narrowing.

He shrugged, looking towards The Danny's bedroom longingly.

"We could have been killed," it said ominously. "Or worse!"

He rolled that around in his head a moment. "What is worse than being killed?"

The human scowled at him and pulled its head back through the open doorway. The door slammed shut loudly.

"Should I have known that?" he asked softly, poking at the human mind one last time. It batted sleepily back at him. "Fine," he muttered, stalking into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. "I will go ask the humans that question."

The human mind woke up slightly. _No, you won't._

"I wish answers to my questions," he told it.

_Just because you're a ghost and don't need sleep, doesn't mean I don't need it._

"The humans are installing cameras and wires all over your house. I wish to know why." He crossed his arms.

The human mind yawned sleepily. _Why should I know? My parents are crazy._

"What did they mean when they said that a human had broken into their lab?"

Very suddenly, the human mind was awake. _What?_

"They stated that it wished some blue pants, or something."

_Blue pants? _The human shook its head, confused. _Nobody'd break into our house for pants._ It reached for the body.

He let it, happy to allow the human to deal with the problem of the blue pants. _Will you explain the cameras?_

It poked its head out of its bedroom. "It's a security system, I guess. It keeps other humans out of our house." With a shrug, it closed the door and grabbed its backpack.

He contemplated that. A way to keep the many other humans in the world out of this house? It sounded extremely prudent. The fewer disgusting creatures to deal with, the better. _Why was there not a security system installed before this?_

The Danny pulled out its homework. "Dunno. You gonna help me with math?"

He scowled and retreated deep into the human's mind. Numbers made his head hurt.


	6. The Party

_Thanks KTrevo, nocorrall, DarkFoxKit, Rebecca987, BiblioMatsuri, MsFrizzle, Hoytti, Aurora Marie Williams, iloveyugiohGX93, and Invader Johnny for the reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Party**

* * *

-Day 16-

The Danny was in a horrible mood later that evening. "You kept me up all night," it muttered darkly slammed its math book shut, officially giving up on the topic. It slumped over to its computer and poked at its keyboard. "What do you expect?"

_That was your choice_, he replied. _I was also 'up' all night. I am not grumpy._

"I'm not grumpy," it shot back grumpily. "Besides, you slept all day."

_Ghosts do not sleep_.

"Yeah, sure," it mumbled. "And now I have a science report to finish while you 'don't-sleep' some more."

_I fail to see how you blame me for your choice to attend School._

It scowled. "School isn't a choice," it snapped. "Now shut up. I wanna get this biology crap done."

He stayed quiet long enough for the human to get the document open on its computer and start to type. _You have a very boring life._

It stopped typing with a sigh. "Do you wanna do this?"

_No_. He was quiet, letting the human get back to its work. He listened to it mutter and type and search through internet windows for the information it needed.

He'd always imagined humans lived interesting, exciting lives – sort of the opposite of the ghost world's endless sameness. Yet this human, and all the others he'd seen, existed in a similar state of sameness. Every day it went to _School_, went home, then went to sleep at night. Now and then it would go a small distance to a different house, but it was rare. It was slightly disappointing. Now that he understood the feeling of boredom, he was slowly coming to realize the humans existed in that state a lot.

The Danny sighed loudly, turning the computer monitor off with a snap. "You think too loud," it complained.

_I am sorry_, he told it, startled that the human had been listening to his thoughts.

"My life's not boring," it muttered, crossing its arms and staring at the door.

_I would not know_, he replied with a mental shrug. _I have not experienced other human lives before._

The Danny was quiet, listening to people moving around downstairs. There were interesting smells starting to work their way into its room. It stretched its arms over its head, hearing a faint popping from its shoulders. "I'm gonna take a nap," it said.

_Do you have to finish your report?_

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," it said softly. "I'm too tired. _Please_ don't take my body for a walk around town while I'm sleeping."

He thought about it for a moment, but then took pity on the human. _I will not._

It slumped over to its bed, pushed the backpack onto the floor with a loud thud, and collapsed onto the covers. "Thanks," it muttered, wrappings its arms around the soft pillow. It was only a few minutes before it was sound asleep.

He waited a bit before slowly sitting up, holding the pillow in his lap. He could feel how tired the human body was – everything had a slight ache to it. Perhaps too many nights of taking it out flying and not letting the body sleep was taking a toll on it. He curled his fingers into the soft pillow with a sigh. It was hard to imagine not flying. But he had to admit that the lack of rest time was taking a toll on both the human body and the human mind.

"I will let you sleep tonight," he muttered, resting his chin on the top of the pillow.

"What was that?"

He jerked, glancing towards the open door. One of the red-haired humans was standing in the door. It had a fist on its hip. "Nothing," he said softly, clutching the pillow a little closer. He hoped the human wouldn't walk in the door – he didn't want to deal with talking to the creature.

"Come downstairs. Mom's got dinner ready."

The human vanished, but it left him in a bind. He'd clearly been given a direction. Going downstairs would place himself in the dangerous position of needing to be around the other humans that lived in this house, but not going downstairs would likely get The Danny in trouble – and the human might come back for him. Not for the first time, he cursed the fact that humans lived in groups.

Perhaps he could convince The Danny to live on its own. Surely there were other houses The Danny could inhabit other than this one. There certainly seemed to be plenty of them in this world.

With a dark sigh, he tossed the pillow onto the bed and got up. He put his shoes back on, tucking the laces carefully inside, and snuck down the steps. Hopefully the human only needed to see him a moment before he would be allowed to go back upstairs and hide in The Danny's bedroom.

The downstairs had been mostly cleaned up in the past hour. Wires of all colors still jutted from holes in the walls, but the couch was upright again and most of the objects were back in their original positions. The large box of wires and electrical parts was sitting in a corner next to the ladders.

Three humans were clustered around a large table in the kitchen. There were plates for food set out, as well as a large plate with a square, pink-colored something on top. He hesitated in the doorway.

"Come on," one of the humans called, pushing out an empty chair with its foot.

He poked at the human mind desperately. It just continued to sleep. When it was clear The Danny wasn't going to wake up, and the other humans were starting to eye him curiously, he swallowed and slowly walked across the floor.

Settling carefully into one of the chairs, the large human pushed a plate in front of him. Thankfully, it was empty. He sent them a smile, hoping to hold off any thoughts they might be having about him.

"Well, since we're all here," one of the red-haired humans said with a narrow-eyed look in his direction, "_finally._ We can start." It smiled, pleased, then looked around the room.

"Start with what, dear?" the other red-haired human murmured.

The first red-haired human shot it a frustrated look. "Moooom," it whined.

With a smile, the red-haired human seemed to take pity on the other and nodded. "I suppose we should start with a birthday song before we open presents? Danny, would you like to start?"

The first human smiled, pleased, and looked around expectantly.

Danny blinked at the humans, unhappy with being brought into the celebration, and desperately trying to determine what a 'birthday song' might be. He jabbed at the human mind, but got nothing but a thick murmur in reply. "Um…"

"Sweetie, are you feeling okay?" the human asked.

"Yeah," he answered. His palms felt slippery. "I am just really tired. It was a long day."

It peered at him a moment longer before reaching over and placing a hand on his head. The hand was disgustingly warm against his skin. It took some effort for him to hold still, but eventually it took its hand back. "You don't feel warm. Let me know if you start feeling sick, alright?"

He nodded, taking advantage of the lack of contact to scoot his chair a bit away from the table.

"I'll start!" the largest human chimed in, its words garbled by something in its mouth.

"Jack," the human chided, "we were waiting until after presents."

The large human wilted just a moment, then started to loudly sing. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" The other human joined in, both looking towards the shorter red-haired human. "Happy birthday dear Jazzy… happy birthday to you!" They broke into applause as the non-singing human grinned and reached for the colorful boxes spread out on the table.

He watched, curious, as the human tore at the brightly colored paper that had been covering the box. It crumpled the paper into a ball and lobbed it in his direction. He caught it, playing with it curiously as the human opened the box to pull out a book. The paper in his hand crinkled loudly and was covered in little images of hats and fireworks.

It squealed in delight. "Thanks, Mom!" It started to flip through the book. "I've been wanting this _forever_. It's one of the best psychotherapy books on the market, and almost impossible to get. How did you find a copy?" Then it stopped and went back to the front page. "And it's autographed?" Its voice had gone soft.

He tossed the crumpled ball of paper lightly in the air, wondering what 'autographed' meant. He poked the human mind, hoping it would wake up enough to tell him and take over.

"Your father knew the author back in college," the human told it.

Its eyes were wide as it turned to look at the largest human. "Really? How did you know I wanted it?"

The large human, who was licking a finger that had been covered in something pink, flushed and sat up straighter. "Dann-o told me."

It turned to look at him. He caught the paper ball when it came down into hands again, shifting on his chair. He didn't like the way it was looking at him. "Um…"

It suddenly leapt out of its seat and raced around the table to where he was sitting. He leaned back in his chair, but it did no good. The human threw itself towards him, wrapping its arms around him. It was heavy and felt oddly warm. "Thank you!" it said, breathing loudly in its ear. He couldn't help the shudder at the moist feeling of the air against the side of his face.

"Welcome," he muttered stiffly, holding perfectly still until the human decided to release him from its grip. When it released him to search through the rest of the colorful boxes, he eyed the door leading back upstairs hopefully.

It wasn't to be, however. The large human threw an arm around the back of his chair, holding him in place, almost like it had sensed that he wanted to bolt. He leaned forwards, keeping the human's arm from touching his body.

By the time the smaller red-haired human had finished opening the colorfully wrapped boxes, it had accumulated a pile of books and clothing options. It was laughing and thanking everyone.

He still hadn't figured out why the human's belongings had been taken and wrapped in colorful paper, and why the human would be so excited to get them back. Did humans have that short of a memory span? He wondered if this was something like a normal occasion for humans.

He poked at the human mind again, getting nothing but a sleepy response, and he sighed. How much longer would he be trapped doing this?

"Time for cake!" the largest human announced suddenly – and loudly – making him flinch. Being that he was perched at the edge of his chair furthest from the human, he nearly fell out of his chair.

"Yes, Jack, but the neighbors aren't invited," one of the humans chided. "You don't need to yell. Besides, you scared Danny."

"Sorry," it replied sullenly. "Can we have cake now?"

"Before supper?"

"Just this once, Mom?" the other human chimed in, with a pleading sound to its voice.

The human reached over and touched the large human's arm. "Yes, I suppose this once we can have desert first. Light the candles."

It pushed out of its chair and grabbed a strange red object. It clicked, making a small flame jump from the end. It slowly moved the object around, setting the wax candles that were on the pink fluffy square alight.

He leaned forwards, interested. _Cake_ was a word that sparkled some sort of memory in his mind. It was a food, one that many humans craved – that much he remembered. But he hadn't any idea that they were something that was to be eaten while on fire. Quite suddenly, human eating rituals became interesting. How did humans eat things that were burning?

It didn't take more than a few moments for the pink square cake to be set in front of the red-haired human, to have it squint its eyes up, and then to blow all the candles out. It grinned happily when the candles sizzled and let out tiny streams of smoke.

Slightly disappointed, he sat back in his chair while the humans picked out the candles and then cut into the cake. Squares were placed on plates, then set in front of each human.

Including himself.

He stared at it, then poked the human mind for what felt like the dozenth time. "Please wake up," he whispered.

"What was that, Sweetie?" One of the humans, mid-bite, looked at him.

"Nothing," he answered, slowly reaching forwards and awkwardly picking up the fork that had been set on the plate. He fiddled with it between his fingers, staring at the fork, then the cake, than the humans. They were all eating, exclaiming the wonderfulness of the cake.

A hand pressed against his forehead again. He jerked backwards, staring at the red-haired human who was gazing at him with concern. "Are you sure you're feeling alright? You're acting oddly."

He swallowed, holding the fork tightly. "I am fine," he said. He smiled at it, hopefully reassuringly.

It didn't look convinced, but sat back in its chair and took another bite of its cake.

There was little chance he was going to get out of this without… _eating_. The thought made a shudder run up his spine. He was trying to not get the human in trouble, and it appeared the humans would be angry if he didn't eat this cake. It was part of this strange ritual. With a deep sense of dread, he slowly pushed the fork through the cake.

It _squelched_. The cake squished slightly under the pressure of the fork before bouncing back. The bit of cake settled onto the tines of the fork as he lifted it up. Little crumbs tumbled off. Pink smeared the silvery tines. A sickly-sweet scent drifted from it.

He glanced towards the humans, but the red-haired one was still watching him oddly. He smiled – although he wasn't sure it was a very good one – and quickly set the bit of cake into his mouth.

_Taste_ exploded in his mind. Sweet. Chocolaty. It was slightly warm and gooey. He very slowly chewed on it, the substance squishing against his teeth and tongue. He chewed and chewed before getting up the nerve to swallow.

The thought of what the food was – matter that did not belong to him, being taken into his body to be broken down, liquefied, and eventually expelled when the nutrients had been extracted – was beyond disgusting. He felt a horrible urge to try to remove the cake from his stomach.

But the _taste_… that had been something else. It had been intriguing.

He sat still, twiddling the fork in his fingers. All humans ate. It was a fact of nature, or so The Danny told him. It was disgusting, gross, and a horrible concept overall. If he didn't do it, The Danny would. And, to be honest with himself, the taste thing wasn't so bad.

Not that he wanted to experience it very often. But for this one time, it wasn't nearly as bad as he'd been dreading.

His fork snuck out and carefully scraped up some of the pink topping. He licked it off the fork, holding the pink substance in his mouth until it was nearly gone. It was extremely sweet. An almost unconscious smile settled onto his face as he grabbed another bite of pink.

"So what's for supper?" the red-haired human piped up. It was eying the plates set on the table.

"Only your favorite, birthday-girl," the other red-haired human said, leaning forwards to pull the cover off one of the dishes.

The scent that had been circling through the house the last few hours exploded in his mind. He sniffed, leaning forwards as well to peer at the substance. It was more food – something colorful smeared with brown sauce. He shivered slightly, worried that he was going to be required to eat more. Surely a few bites of the pink cake topping was enough? He shot a hopeful glance over his shoulder towards the stairs.

"Stir-fry!" the human cheered. Then it paused, the smile fading slightly. "Did you make it?" it asked hesitantly.

"We ordered," the other human answered, "and warmed it up in the oven."

The red-haired human's smile returned. "Awesome. No offense, but it's better from the take-out place."

Something cold settled into the kitchen. He froze, looking around, even as the humans scooped the brown goo onto their plates. His body shivered, odd sensations racing along his skin.

"Sweetie?" The human was in front of him again, watching him with narrowed eyes.

He couldn't help the shiver that went through his body at a new swirl of cold air. "I am fine," he told it. When it hummed disbelievingly, he scowled and crossed his arms. "I am cold."

The fact that the human didn't seem to be affected by the cold air made him look down at his toes, and pull his arms closer towards his chest. He hoped it wasn't something that would make the human start to wonder if The Danny was still completely human. While he wanted to be free of this form, he hadn't yet made the decision to tell these particular humans.

"Why don't you go lay down for a while, Sweetheart," it said softly. "I'll bring you up something to eat later."

He was about to look up at it and tell it that he was fine – once more – he stopped himself from the reflexive comment. Here was his chance to escape the humans and be by himself few awhile. "Alright," he said, slinking out of his chair and hurrying out the door. As he left the kitchen, the cold faded away.

He was most of the way up the stairs before The Danny spoke up. _That was rude._

With a scowl, he closed the door to the bedroom and sank onto the bed. "You are awake," he said angrily.

_It's my sister's birthday. Of course I'm awake._

His fingers curled tightly into the soft covers. "How long have you been awake?"

_Since the first time you tried to wake me up_, it answered pleasantly. _You liked the cake, didn't you? _it teased, but it didn't sound incredibly happy.

"Why did you do this?" he hissed. "I have been forced to deal with those humans."

_Those humans are my family_, it shot back. _And perhaps you should remember that next time you try to teach me to fly by dropping me out of the sky!_

He understood. "This is an odd sort of revenge."

The human mind settled back, feeling a little sullen. _I'm not good at revenge._

He settled back on the bed, lacing his fingers behind his head. "That is obvious, human."

_Are you ever going to use my name?_

"Are you ever going to free me?" He closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel the softness of the bed beneath him.

_Trust me. I'd love to_.


	7. The Revenge

_Thanks Psudinymous, MsFrizzle, nycorrall, DarkFoxKit, Invader Johnny, Anne Camp aka Obi-Quiet, KTrevo, Aurora Marie Williams, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Revenge**

* * *

-Day 17-

Revenge was a dish best served cold. He waited and bided his time, allowing the human body to sleep that night and the human mind to mostly forget the emotions from the previous evening, before starting in on his plan.

When the human stumbled down to breakfast, one of the other humans was there to greet it. It grabbed for The Danny, holding a hand to its forehead, demanding to know if it was feeling better. The Danny mumbled a reply, allowed the other human to settle it into a chair, and started to eat its breakfast.

Normally, he would bury himself deep into the human's mind while it ate. But after the experience last night, he wasn't as horrified by the idea of eating. Besides, if he had his way, the human wasn't going to get much of its cereal this morning. He waited as the human grabbed the spoon, got a spoonful of cereal, and brought it up to its mouth.

Then he reached out and pushed its hand out of phase.

The spoon clattered to the table through The Danny's hand, drips of milk and cereal going everywhere. It made a slightly larger mess than he'd been expecting, but he pushed away the slight moral twinge and settled back into the human's mind to wait.

The Danny stared at its hand, then at the spoon, and mumbled an apology to the other human. After cleaning up most of the mess, it grabbed its spoon to get a new bite.

He phased it again, this time getting to it before the spoon was too far from the bowl. The spoon clattered back into the bowl.

The Danny stared at his hand, then at the spoon.

"Sweetie? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," it replied, its voice sounding sleepy and curious. "I… I guess I just dropped it again."

Slowly it reached out and picked the spoon back up. It raised the spoon towards its mouth, watching it carefully.

He let it get rather close before reaching out to send its hand out of phase and the spoon to the floor. A flicker of an emotion he hadn't felt before – _Humor._ – curled in his mind. He was pretty sure the emotion was from his own mind.

"Daniel!" the other human said.

"Sorry!" The Danny shot back. "I'm not doing it on purpose!"

"Are your fingers broken?" A washrag was thrust in front of The Danny's face.

It grabbed the rag with a sullen sigh. "No. I'll clean it up." When the other human walked back over to the counter, The Danny hissed, "I know it's you, ghost. Knock it off."

_You should not force me to interact with your family_.

"You shouldn't force me to learn ghost stuff!" it whispered furiously as it wiped the bits of spilled milk off the ground.

_If we are to be stuck together, it is something you should learn._

"Well then vise-versa," it said quietly, dropping the washrag on the table and grabbing his spoon. "You should learn human things."

_Humans are disgusting, heavy things._ He shuddered at the thought of having to deal with more than just this one human on a normal basis.

"Ghosts are disgusting too!"

"Sweetie? Are you talking to me?" the other human asked, turning around from the sink.

"No, Mom. I'm talking to myself, sorry," The Danny said.

It watched The Danny for a long moment. "You know you can talk to me, right?" it said, a note of concern to its voice. "About anything? And I promise I won't be mad?"

"I'm okay," The Danny replied. "I really am. I just…" it shrugged. "I'm fine."

"If you say so," it answered, turning back around to finish washing the dishes.

The Danny stared at its cereal bowl. "How long are you going to keep this up?" it breathed.

_How long can humans go without eating?_

It scowled and set the spoon down on the table. "I'm not hungry," it informed the other human. "I'm just gonna go to school." It didn't wait for a reply, storming up to its room to grab its backpack. "And when I'm really hungry, I hope you suffer as well."

.

.7.

.

-Day 17-

The Danny was phased through the ground twice on its way to _School_. When it saw The Sam and The Tucker standing in the hallway, it was turned invisible, and stayed that way until The Danny started to mutter about Detention and getting in trouble. During its first class, it was phased through its chair once and lost sight of its hands twice before it raised its hand and asked to be excused.

It stormed down the hallway, mind whirling with -_Anger!-_, slamming through a door and coming to a stop in a deserted bathroom. It looked into every stall before propping its hands onto a sink and glaring into a mirror. "I've had enough of this."

_I have not._

"It was one piece of cake!" it said. "How is this revenge for _one_ piece of cake!"

He thought about that. Perhaps he was going a little overboard. But it was infuriating that the human wouldn't even wish to learn to fly. _It is more than just revenge. I wish to teach you as well._

"Teach me what?"

_How to control the energy inside of you. Do you not wish to fly?_

"No!" It threw its hands in the air and paced a few feet away from the sink before turning around and coming back. "I don't want to learn to fly. Or phase through things. Or be invisible. I'm invisible enough just as wimpy little me – much less to be the freak that can _actually_ be invisible."

He settled back, thinking that through. _Why not?_

"Humans don't do those kinds of things. It may have passed your notice, but I'm human."

_I noticed. But why would you not embrace the superiority of the ghost world now that you have the chance?_

"I don't want it. I want to be normal."

He reached forwards and pushed a bit of energy into the human's body. The blue eyes in the mirror swirled with an inhuman green light.

"Don't do that." -_Annoyance_\- started to take over the -_Anger!-_ from earlier.

_You wish to keep me trapped in here and not be able to do anything that comes natural to me? Do not fly, do not be invisible, do not phase through things?_

"It's my body!"

_Is it not mine too?_

The human stopped, pulling back slightly from the mirror. He could feel _-Confusion-_ swirl through its mind. "It's my body," it repeated.

_I will not be caged, human. _He might be nothing more than a tiny scrap of a ghost – but he was still a ghost. He was not going be to a human's mental pet.

"How about not during school?"

He didn't answer. The conversation had brought up the frustration that had been circling around for a while in his mind. He wished to be freed – but the human's world was interesting enough that he was willing to put off that demand for a short time. However, his lack of his own form was starting to get to him. He'd been able to do what he wished for his entire existence, and when he wished to do it. Being trapped to the human's boring schedule and existence was extremely difficult.

"Ghost?"

_I will not be a prisoner in your mind,_ he stated again.

The human stared down at the sink. It was biting its tongue. -_Frustrated-_ "I'm going to get in really big trouble."

He waited, not quite caring at the moment.

"You're going to make people figure out what happened to us," it continued.

_Perhaps it would be better if they did._

It snorted. "My parents-"

_Surely there are others we could tell,_ he interrupted. He still did not understand The Danny's fear of the other humans in its home finding out about him. The confusing emotions kept him waiting to tell them as well – he needed to understand first.

There was a strange surge of memories at that. People in cages. Sharp knives. Dripping blood. Needles oozing liquid. Screaming and pain and slow death. The human body shuddered.

He drew away from the human mind in surprise.

"No, we can't do that," it whispered.

_What are those memories?_

"Humans do things," it breathed, "to people that aren't normal."

He was absolutely silent for a long moment, thinking over the memories that had been dropped into his own mind. They were not good memories. _Why would humans do this?_ he asked, not quite sure these sorts of memories were realistic. _Surely this is not legal?_

The human tightened its fingers around the sink. "It's not legal to do to _humans_, but we experiment on animals all the time. There'd probably be some question as to whether or not we qualify as human."

He let that thought roll around in his mind a moment. _I will tone it down._

The human sagged in relief. "You'll stop?"

_I will tone it down_, he repeated. _It is in my best interest as well to keep the other humans from knowing I am here._

"You'll stop?" it repeated, this time sounding unsure.

He smiled, letting the human feel the emotion in his mind. _I will not be in a cage. And I believe you should learn to control the energy in you. But I will tone it down._

It sighed and buried its face in its hands. "I'm not going to like this, am I?" it whispered to itself. "This is why I hate Wednesdays."

He laughed slightly, settling back in the human's mind and letting it moan and groan and slowly head back to class. Eventually the human would come to understand that he was not a pet, only to be let it out when the human wished. Perhaps it would even understand the superiority of the way ghosts lived – although that was probably too much to work towards.

He only phased The Danny through the floor two more times that day.

.

.7.

.

-Day 19-

Friday bloomed cold and rainy. It was the first rainy day that he'd experienced in the two and a half weeks trapped in the human world. He found the idea of stuff falling out of the sky a bit odd. The human had not wished to wake up when the alarm clock went off, so he'd taken the body to the window and sat there, watching the rain fall. Wind whipped.

Then something bright and powerful raced across the sky. He jumped to his feet, eyes wide, started by the loud rumbling noise that made the entire house shake. He'd seen something similar in the ghost world – it usually meant that some very powerful ghost was angry and he should spend the next period of his existence hiding from it.

_It's just a thunderstorm_. The human yawned, then paused. _Why're you afraid of a thunderstorm?_

"I am not afraid," he said, but he edged away from the window none-the-less, heading towards the closet to grab clothes. "I was simply not aware that such powerful things existed in this world as well."

_Well, it can't hurt you. As long as you're not flying up in the clouds._

He shuddered slightly at the idea of flying in the thunderstorm. "The clouds make that?" he asked.

_Yup. Can't have a thunderstorm without clouds. Something about electrical charges in the clouds, or something._

He glanced over his shoulder out the window, thinking back to the times he'd dived through those clouds. They'd seemed rather innocent at the time. He hadn't realized what would happen if someone made them mad. "Are we going to _School_ again today?"

_Why do you always say it like that? Its just school. And yeah, we have to go to school today._

"It is how you think it." He shrugged. "Your alarm clock rang several minutes ago." Then he paused, tapping his fingers against the top of a dresser. "We are not walking to _School_ in this thunderstorm?"

_Mom'll give us a ride. Don't wear the same shirt again today._

He looked down at the white shirt with the red logo. "I like this shirt."

_Yeah, but you've made me wear it like four days in a row now._

"So?" Ghosts always looked the same.

_Beyond the fact that I'm starting to get looks, it needs to be washed. Smell it._

He brought the shirt up to his nose, startled at the strange scent that now lingered on the cloth. "How does one 'wash it'?"

_I put it in the laundry bin and Mom washes it. Pick something else to wear._ The human yawned and curled back up to go back to sleep.

"I do not wish to," he said, but The Danny wasn't paying attention. He scowled down at the shirt, not willing to wear it now that he was aware of the disgusting human scent. Dropping it onto the floor, he picked through the human's other clothing, not finding another copy of the shirt. "Do you not have another?"

The human sleepily muttered and buried itself deeper, making him wince. With a deep sigh, he grabbed a green shirt, eying it with distrust. "I wish my shirt laundered before I must wear this monstrosity twice."

_Then tell Mom._

He bristled. "I do not wish to speak to the humans of this house. And I do not know which is The Mom."

There was no response.

He quickly got dressed, staring at himself in the mirror. He looked odd in a green shirt. It was not the correct color of green, either. He leaned forwards, squinting, and making a bit of energy flow through the human body. Ghostly green swirled in his eyes. "That is the correct color," he whispered.

He spent a moment contemplating The Toothbrush and The Hairbrush, but left them on the counter. Neither appeared necessary to The Danny's morning ritual. There was an uncomfortable feeling in his bladder, but he refused to even contemplate the task of getting rid of the feeling. Leaving the bathroom, he grabbed The Danny's backpack and walked down the steps.

The other humans were in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Still not wanting to deal with the idea of eating, he sat down in a chair in the living room and watched the thunderstorm rage outside. Light flashed and swirled around the sky. From the safety of the house, he watched the power rage.

"Ready to go, Sweetie?"

He flinched, startled out of his daze. He blinked up at the red-haired human. "Yes," he said, getting to his feet and grabbing his backpack.

"Wear a coat," it said as it dug around in a closet, eventually throwing a jacket in his direction. "Jazz! I'm leaving!" it yelled.

"Coming, Mom!" came another voice.

He slowly put on the jacket, studying the human in front of him. Red hair, blue clothing. This was The Mom. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, thinking of his shirt upstairs – too smelly to wear to _School_. "Are you washing clothes today?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound too different from The Danny's voice and not knowing how to ask for the white shirt to be cleaned.

It shot him a look as another human raced down the steps. "Yes," it answered.

"My white shirt is dirty." He fiddled with the zipper of the jacket, not sure how to get it working. It was not connected at the bottom, like the zippers on pants. He quickly gave up.

"You've worn it every day this week," it answered. "No wonder it's dirty." It handed another jacket to the other human. "I'll wash it today, if you'd like."

"Yes," he said, heading towards the door and glancing out into the rain. Another strange not-his memory flickered through his head – this one of a greenish looking human, melting in the rain, surrounded by strange flying monkeys. "I will not melt, will I?" he asked as he pulled back.

"Don't be silly," one of the humans – he'd already gotten them confused – said, pushing him out into the rain.

He followed it towards the car, feeling the rain collect on his hair. It wasn't unlike the showers The Danny took every other day. Just much colder. He looked up at the roiling clouds, at the wind blowing through the trees and soaking his shirt. Light flashed across the sky and he shivered.

The humans climbed into the car. He followed, carefully doing what they did. The humans grabbed at odd straps, then the car started to vibrate and make noise, and then they were moving. He'd seen cars on the streets, knew they carried people around, but this was his first experience in a car.

By the time they reached _School_, he decided he wasn't a fan. The car went fast and wasn't under his control. He slogged into the building, poking at the human mind. "I have survived your torment of the morning," he muttered. "It is your turn."

_I think you can go to school today._

His eyes flashed. "I will not." He closed his eyes and took a step backwards into his head, pushing at the human mind.

It took over. "Whatever," it yawned, stretching. Then it paused. "Dude, you didn't go to the bathroom this morning?"

_It is a disgusting habit you should learn to break, _he informed it.

"Yeah, like that can happen." It headed through the school, stopping at the first bathroom. "And you didn't brush my hair? I don't suppose you ate breakfast, huh? God, Ghost. I'm glad you don't have a body of your own. You'd kill it."

Gym class fell right before lunch. The humans were doing some bizarre ritual that involved climbing a long rope. He helped The Danny by making the human's body float. It hadn't been pleased.

At lunch, the human mind had refused to participate, requiring him to contend with the cafeteria and The Sam and The Tucker. Fortunately, the two humans were in the midst of an argument and hadn't required his input. He doubted he would have been able to give anything helpful, anyways. He picked his way through the school lunch, managing to eat a few of the 'French Fries', although he'd refused to dunk them in the red juice that had looked like spilled blood. He hadn't been pleased either.

The study period after lunch, when The Danny usually spent time in the library, had been spent keeping the human invisible. It hid in a closet and argued with him for the entire hour. He hadn't given way until the end of the period. The human hadn't even tried to fix the invisible problem.

The next class was the history class, where he generally paid some attention. The adult human – The Teacher, so The Danny termed it – was talking about the later days of the Revolutionary War, a time that he couldn't remember even vaguely. He figured he had died before this point. The Danny had thought perhaps he had died fighting in the war. He didn't think it likely, although he couldn't remember.

The Danny made him attend today, steadfastly refusing to take control of the body. Walking through the hallway had been torture. Sitting in a chair that was designated as 'his' was something of a relief, even if The Sam and The Tucker sat next to him. He was quite sick of those two humans by this point. There were many humans on the planet – The Danny needed to meet new ones. Less nosey ones, at that.

_Oh great, a guest speaker. You lucked out._

He looked up from the desk to study the humans in the front of the room. One was The Teacher, the other was an unknown. It was talking to The Teacher animatedly, gesturing towards the screen in the front of the room where pictures were being displayed. After the bell rang, it started to talk to the class, showing pictures and telling about its life.

For the first few minutes, he was very confused. This human did many things. It didn't just go to sleep, and go to _School_, and go to a house with other humans. It showed pictures of it falling through the air – learning to fly. Of it climbing mountains. Of it going deep below the water to see the fish. Of it making its way through deep underground caves.

Then he understood. The Danny was simply a boring human. Not all humans led simple, boring lives.

He leaned forwards in the desk, listening carefully as the human talked about traveling around the world. It mentioned many different places and countries he'd never known existed. "I wish to do this," he whispered.

_No you don't. It takes a lot of money to travel, and I don't have anything._

"Then I will get money."

_Yeah, I don't think so. I don't want a job and, from I know about you, you won't want one either._ The human seemed adamant.

"I do not like your boring existence."

_Too bad. I do. And you're not taking my body on trips around the world_.

"It is my body too."

"Mr. Fenton."

For a moment, he looked around, then looked up at The Teacher. He winced as he remembered that The Danny was sometimes known as Mr. Fenton – although he was at a loss as to why that was. "Yes, sir?"

"Something you wish to share?" The Teacher said.

"I live a very boring existence. I would like to try some of these things," he told it.

The Teacher arched a skeptical eyebrow. "I wish you luck. But for now," the human tapped the blank paper on his desk. "You should be taking notes."

He picked up the pencil, watching The Teacher walk back to the front of the room. The speaker continued to talk about a trip to a strange triangle-shaped structure in the middle of a desert.

_You gonna take notes?_

He pressed his lips together, fiddling with the pencil. Actually putting the marks on the paper sounded extremely difficult.

_I need to take a test on this crap, you know. Or, at this rate, you'll have to take the test. Please, Ghost._

With a glance towards the front, he set the pencil on the paper and slowly drew a line across the page. It was relatively easy – much more so than he'd been expecting. With that little most of confidence, he bit his lower lip and slowly started to make squiggles on the page that hopefully looked close to the ones on the slide.

_What the Hell? Can you do notes that someone will be able to read?_

Confidence lost, he let the pencil make random marks across the page. Lines and dots and squiggles.

_Ghost!_

For the first time, he wished he had a name. Being called 'Ghost' was getting annoying. He made a few more marks.

_This is stupid. Just write-_

He set the pencil down on the desk harder than he'd been expecting. Listening to the human rant in his mind was frustrating. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" the teacher asked.

"May I use the bathroom?" he asked. It seemed to be the general way to ask to leave the room.

The Teacher looked at him, then towards the speaker, then back. "Fine. But hurry back."

He scooted out of the chair, not caring about the looks The Sam or The Tucker were giving him. He made it to the hallway, then to the empty bathroom. He crossed his arms tightly, unwilling to touch anything in the room. He had come to understand what the other humans did in here. "I cannot write."

The human was silent. _What?_

"I cannot write. I cannot read either."

_Why not?_

"Mother did not believe in _School_ for people like me. I was not allowed to attend." He shivered, not having remembered that before just that moment. He hated those memories – the ones that were his own – that surfaced at random points.

_That's kinda sad._

"There is no point to learning to read or write. I am a ghost. We do not have to. It is a human thing."

_Well._ The Danny poked at him with its mind – it made his nose tingle. _You're not really a ghost right now. Another 'human thing' you should learn._

"Why is it I must learn human things?" he hissed. "Especially when you refuse to learn ghost things?"

_We're not in your world?_

He paused. He looked around the dirty bathroom – at a place that would not and could not exist in the land of the dead. Mirrors and toilets and sinks and water. Even hand driers. "This is true," he conceded.

_Until we figure out how to get you out of my head, it's kinda your world too._

Suddenly, the bathroom took on a much darker tinge in his mind. "I will not claim a place such as this _my_ world," he said darkly.

The human mind laughed. _I saw what you were thinking,_ it said between fits of chuckles. _I wouldn't want to have those toilets in my world either, if I had a choice._

"If you are to insist upon written notes, you will have to do them," he said.

_I figured._ The human reached forwards to take control of the body and he stepped aside, letting it. The human wiggled its fingers, then ran a hand through its hair. "You'll have to learn to read sooner or later."

He curled up in its mind, letting the worries of the human world fall away. _As you will have to learn to fly sooner or later._

It snorted and headed out of the bathroom. "Agree to disagree?"

_I do not think so, Human._


	8. The Contamination

_Thanks to KTrevo, nycorrall, Y. Necrolys, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, GhostEnvy, DarkFoxKit, panfan87, MsFrizzle, Aurora Marie Wiliams, Invader Johnny, Pseudinymous, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Contamination**

* * *

-Day 20-

Saturday passed in a boring blur. The humans of the house insisted upon spending the day together on something called 'going for a drive'. The Danny grumbled almost as much as he did as it buckled itself into the back of the car. "I had plans," it tried one last time, leaning forwards to stare at one of the red-haired humans. "That new movie came out-"

"You can go watch it tomorrow," the red-haired human replied, poking her finger at different places on a map and not really seeming to pay much attention.

"Yeah," The Danny muttered, slumping back in its seat and crossing its arms, "but then Tucker'll have seen it and he'll give away the ending."

It hummed. "I feel your pain, Sweetie. The world will end, I'm sure of it."

"Why doesn't Jazz have to come along?" The Danny complained.

"She's at her friend's house celebrating her birthday. I think we should take the 18 north, don't you, Jack? We've heard some interesting news out of the towns up there."

"Sounds like a plan!" the other human chimed in happily, twisting the key and making the car vibrate and roar. Music blared from the speakers.

The Danny groaned and stuffed its fingers into its ears. "As if it couldn't get any worse…"

_What is wrong with this type of music?_ He listened to the stifled music as he tensed himself for the odd and slightly out of control movement of the car. _It is nice._

"Rock and roll is something only a ghost would enjoy. Trust me. It's bad," it muttered darkly.

_If you say so_, he agreed, settling down to listen. _What does 'going for a drive' entail for humans?_

The Danny arched an eyebrow. "_Normal_ humans? I wouldn't know. But my parents are ghost scientists, so I'm assuming we're going ghost hunting."

_Ghost hunting._ He tried to picture that in his mind and failed. _I did not realize humans hunted ghosts for sport. What do you do with us when you catch us?_

It let out an amused snort. "We don't actually catch anything. My parents just wander around, looking for clues that ghosts even exist. Most humans don't believe ghosts are real." It settled back and took its fingers out of its ears to slouch further down on the chair. "I'm not sure what they'd do with a ghost if they caught one."

_Most ghosts aren't convinced humans are real._

"Really?" It gazed out the window as the car pulled out onto a new road and the car started to speed up. "Where do they think they come from, then?"

He shrugged. _Where do humans think they are going, then? It is a different world and a different existence. _

The Danny was silent for a long moment. "Good point," it muttered.

Time passed as he listened to the music. There was something almost soothing to it – the thick guitar and the steady beat of the drum. As The Danny started to drift to sleep, he stepped in and took over the body, gazing out the window at the passing trees. They were going much faster than he would normally be able to fly, and he wasn't wasting the energy to do it. Perhaps car travel wasn't the most terrible thing. Maybe someday he would convince The Danny to take the car somewhere new, somewhere out of the boring repetitions of _School_ and house and sleep.

He paused in his thoughts, somewhat started by the idea of there being a _someday_ in the future. Even though he'd been trapped in his world for less than three weeks, his desire to leave it was fading. He stared down at his fingers. _His_, not The Danny's. Almost without his noticing, the body had started to become his. The mortal, human cage had started to close in on him. "I will not be caged," he whispered.

His gaze turned back to the trees. To the passing houses and cars. To the thoughts of what else might be out in the world to experience – to feel and touch and taste and smell and see. There was a thick desire that curled around in his mind to go do those things. As a ghost, that wouldn't be possible.

"I should not even be having these thoughts," he muttered, tearing his eyes from the window and running a hand through his hair. "Ghosts do not think about doing new things. We like what we have. What we always will have." He poked at the human mind, hoping for something to distract him from his swirling thoughts. Another thing ghosts shouldn't have to deal with.

It groaned and curled up into a tighter ball, wanting to be left alone. _I gotta spend the entire day with them. Let me have the car ride._ It fell back asleep.

Left alone with his thoughts, he sighed and slumped back in the chair, ending up watching the trees speed past the window. He wondered where the humans in the other cars were going. He wondered why he was even thinking about the other humans. They were heavy, fleshy things that were beneath him. No doubt it was The Danny's fault. The human mind was contaminating his own.

There seemed to be little to be done about it. Freeing himself was slowly becoming less and less of a possibility. Less and less of something he was even sure he _wanted_. Perhaps it was the human mind that was making him think that way. He'd had the same thoughts for many, many years. To have changed them in only a few weeks…

But yet, they were still his thoughts.

By the time the car pulled to a stop near a strange-looking house, he was bored with watching the trees pass by the window. He hadn't decided how to settle his thoughts. Having something to do seemed like an excellent distraction.

But the two humans didn't even seem to remember he was in the car. "Oh, Jack, look at this place!" one of them whispered, turning the volume of the music down. "And to think, it was only a two hour drive."

"Gotta be haunted for sure," the other replied happily. "It was built over a hundred years ago. Mobsters reportedly used this place as a hideout. I'll get the temperature sensors!"

"I'll get the motion cameras!"

"Don't forget the electrical activity monitors!"

He continued to sit in his seat, looking from human to human as they bailed out of the car, arms loaded with the supplies they dug out of the back, and vanished towards the house. He sighed and glanced down at the belt-like device holding him in place. He pushed at the button, like The Danny usually did. The belt didn't come loose. He scowled and reached for the energy to phase through the belt. His body tingled with energy, but he was still just a stuck.

"Human," he said, pushing at its still-sleeping mind. "I am stuck."

It ignored him.

He pushed the button again, pushing and pulling on the metal part of the belt, willing himself to simply pass through the restraining device. "I am stuck!" He crossed his arms, frustrated as his attempts to free himself failed. "I do not wish to spend the day trapped in this car."

Still no response from the human mind.

He dug his fingers into his arms and sighed. "I will not use any ghost talents today without your permission if you free me from this contraption."

_Promise?_

"I knew you were awake, Human."

_I have a name._

He knew that. "I do not wish to learn it. Free me."

The Danny yawned and stretched in his mind. _Promise_? it repeated.

"Yes," he muttered darkly as the human started to reach for control of the body. "And the other humans have run off."

Fingers stretched and clenched. The body yawned widely and it scratched at its hair. "They always do that." It reached down and clicked the button, wiggling the metal belt until it came free. "This one is sticky sometimes." Free of the device, it slid from the car and started to trudge in the general direction the other humans vanished.

_What is it you do when you sleep?_ He hadn't completely gotten free of the swirling thoughts from the car ride.

"Sleep," the human answered, sounding confused. "What else would you do?"

_You enjoy it. I wish to understand why._

"I dunno." It shrugged as it walked through an open door and peered down the hallway. "I just do. Any idea where my parents are?"

Frustrated by the lack of answer, he shot off a quick, _I do not know._ Then settled down in a corner of the human's mind.

"Oh, come on," it said, backing out of the hallway and finding a tree to sit under. "You can't sulk every time I don't answer one of your questions. I dunno why I sleep. Everyone just _does_. Why do you turn invisible?"

_It is because…_ he trailed off, thinking through that. Yes, he sometimes would turn invisible to hide from things that were stronger and older than him – but that was rare. Often times, he would be invisible for days… simply because. It was something ghosts did. It was relaxing._ It is enjoyable._

"Yeah, your answer is much better than mine," it muttered darkly. Pulling its knees up to its chest and wrapping its arms around its legs, it sighed. "What were you thinking about the whole car trip?"

_Nothing you care about._

"I felt it," it said. "You were confused, and frustrated, and kinda angry. Kept me up."

_Sorry._ He lay in the human's mind a moment. _I do not wish to be trapped in a cage._

It rolled its eyes. "So I've heard. Got any bright ideas on how to get you out of my head?"

He peered at the human mind. _I am not… entirely positive that I wish to be released from this body._

"What?" It sat up. _-Startled!- _"Yeah, that's not your decision to make, here."

_I have enjoyed some of the experiences your world has to offer._

"It's my body. You can't keep it." It started to get agitated, moving its hands and feet.

_I wish to experience more things._

It stood up and paced back and forth. "I get some say in this too. And I say not a chance in hell, Ghost! I got stuck with you in my head, and it's not going to stay that way forever!"

_Then you have discovered a way to be free of me?_ He poked at the human mind, making it wince.

"No. But that doesn't mean you get a free pass to stay forever!"

"Danny? Who are you talking to, Sweetie?"

It twisted around to stare at the red-haired human poking its head out of the strange house. "Nobody, Mom."

The red-haired human arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, keep it down, then." It vanished back into the house.

The Danny stood still, tense and aggravated, before groaning and running a distressed hand through its hair. "It hasn't even been three weeks," it hissed, obviously making an attempt to keep his voice level to a minimum. "Sure, it hasn't been _horrible_, but it's not going to last forever."

_How long, then?_

"I don't know!" It winced at how loud its voice had been. "I mean, I don't know if this has happened to anyone before. And I should probably tell my parents…" it trailed off, its thoughts firing in random patterns. -_Anger-_ led to _-Scared-_ led to -_Frustrated_.-

He waited for it to settle down again and drop back down in its spot at the base of the tree. _I do not see a way for me to be freed of this any time soon._

It buried its face in its arms. "Me neither," it mumbled.

_I wish to…_ he broke off, then sighed and started again. _I wish to do as you suggest and learn some human things._

"Why?" It didn't raise its face from its arms.

_Since I am not to be freed soon, I wish to learn more about this world. I wish to try to learn some of these human things you do._

He could feel it arch a skeptical eyebrow. "Like eating?"

_Eating is an unnatural waste of time,_ he said stiffly. _I wish to learn the other human customs._

"On a couple conditions," it said, finally raising its head to stare out over the horizon.

_Which are?_

"You can stop referring to me as 'human'. And 'it', please."

He scowled. _What do you wish to be termed instead?_

"Humans aren't 'it's. We're hes and shes."

He waited a moment for the human to continue, but it didn't. _Which are you? A 'he' or a 'she'?_

It blinked, startled. "You don't even know the difference?"

_Ghosts do not have genders to worry about. Many that take human form profess to be one or the other, but their forms vary wildly. I do not know the human definition of the words._

"I'm a 'he'. Or you can call me Danny." It narrowed its eyes. "But you already knew my name, I'm sure."

_I was aware of your name. Is that your only stipulation?_

"Yes. No, wait, no. I want you to start calling my family members by their names too."

_I cannot tell humans apart. _

"I'll help," it said, "but you have to try."

He thought about it for a moment, then nodded an agreement. _I can agree to those terms, Hu… Danny._

It seemed to relax, apparently startled and surprised to get its own way. "Good."

_I believe you should learn some ghost talents as well._

"No." It shook its head firmly.

_Some would come in quite useful. I am learning human things. You could learn ghost things._

"No." It climbed to its feet, headed towards the house. "I need to go help my parents. No doubt they've got a dozen false signals by now."

He pressed on its mind slightly. _Would it not be fun to sneak up on them invisibly? _

It hesitated ever so slightly.

_You would allow them to test their work. You would know for sure a ghost was walking through the room._

"I'm not learning to turn invisible," it hissed, picking up its pace.

_You would be able to sneak out of the house when you wanted. Get into class without being seen. Avoid people you do not wish to talk to._

It stopped just at the door to the house. The door was closed, but movement could be seen through the windows.

He took a stab in the dark, hoping he was right. It was quite possible that the human mind was contaminating his thoughts. But perhaps it was going the other way as well. Perhaps the human mind was wondering about things it shouldn't be. Maybe the human was reacting so staunchly against his idea because of the same thoughts he'd been having. _You've been wondering about it, haven't you? What it would like to be invisible?_

"Get out of my thoughts, Ghost."

_I cannot. _

"You can't get out of my head, but you can stay out of my thoughts," it muttered darkly.

_You have wondered. Perhaps it is time to try?_

"Humans don't turn invisible," it said, but it sounded like a sort of token protest rather than anything real.

Excitement bubbled up inside of him. _Hold up your hand._

It followed the command. Its hand was shaking, but it didn't say anything further.

_I will control the energy flow. You will command it._

It shook its head faintly, but he wasn't sure what it meant. He reached out with his mind and twisted some of the energy flowing through them, sending it through the human's mind and down into the hand.

_Imagine your hand fading from view._

It let out a helpless breath, but half-closed its eyes. The hand held in front of the door slowly faded. _-Fear!- _The Danny yelped and stumbled backwards, losing its concentration. "What the hell," it whispered, examining its hand closely. It was visible again.

He felt a swirl of pride. He'd known the human had the talent to do this. _Try again._

"No frickin' way," it said, stuffing its hands into his pockets. "Once was freaky enough for me."

_You will not be hurt by it._

"It's not… right!" it huffed, pushing open the door and walking down the hallway. "And you promised to stop referring to me as an 'it'."

_I'm not._

"You're still thinking it," it grumbled, then it poked its head through an open doorway and located the other two humans. They were crowded around a small, glowing screen.

_It is not easy to change my thought patterns. I will try. _He watched as The Danny sulked up to the other humans and stared down at the small screen. Then he shook his head, curled up in a dark corner of the human's mind, and settled down to relax and spend the rest of the day lost in his own thoughts.

.

.8.

.

-Day 20-

"Do you remember the ghost-thing that happened right after the accident?"

He uncurled himself from the corner of the human's mind and looked around. The sky had grown dark and they were back at the human's house, lying on the bed. _Which thing? _he asked, just as a memory floated into his mind. White hair, glowing green eyes, skin simmering with power. _Ah. I do remember, yes._

"Was that you?"

_Me? I do not believe so. _

It was silent a moment. "What do you look like?"

_I do not look like anything. _He hadn't thought much about his appearance as a ghost. He'd been little more than a scrap of plasma and thought. _Perhaps I would have looked like a small, blurry shadow. _

"Do all ghosts look like that?"

_No._ Images of some of the larger ghosts flickered through his mind. He felt the human shudder – it had seen the images as well. _The more powerful the ghost, the more form it has. Many ghosts have human appearances._

It huffed through it nose. "I wonder what that was, then."

_I do not know._ And, with all honesty, he hadn't thought about the momentary change in appearance at all.

"My eyes turn green when you do that fizzy thing."

He paused in his thoughts and tried to process that. _What fizzy thing?_

The human closed its eyes. "You make my nerves all fizzy. And my eyes glow green. Like when you turn me invisible or out of phase, or something."

_That is energy. _

"Maybe when you do just a little bit of energy, it makes my eyes turn green. Maybe if you did more of it, more of me would look ghosty."

_I am not sure 'ghosty' is a word. _He paced around the human mind. _And I am not sure you wish me to channel much energy through you._

It was quiet a long moment. "You were right, earlier," it said. "I have been, you know, wondering what it would be like. To have ghost powers." It shook its head. "It's just freaky, thinking that I… _could_."

He was quiet, waiting for the human to think through its thoughts.

"Let's give it a try," it said slowly, opening its eyes to stare at the ceiling. It took a deep breath and let it out. "Just once. Just to see if we can."

_Do I get no say in this?_

It paused, half-sat up. "You don't want to? I thought-"

_I am not in a cage. I am not your pet. I am not here to follow your commands and bidding._

Collapsing back down on the bed, it sighed. "Fine. I just thought you wanted to."

He shook his head. _It is not that I do not wish to. It is that I do not wish you to assume you control me._

"It's my body!"

_It's mine as well, _he shot back. _Until we are separated, we share this form._

It pressed its lips together, _-Frustrated-_, then ran a hand through its hair. "I wasn't trying to command you. I thought you wanted me to do more ghost stuff."

_I do. _

It sighed, exasperated. "Then what? You want to or you don't?"

_I would like to be asked._

It rolled its eyes as it sat up. "Fine. Do you… Um…" then it stopped, obviously distracted by a strange thought. "You're not a girl-ghost, are you?"

_Ghosts do not have genders. I am neither a girl nor a boy._

"You were acting kinda girlish. I don't really want a girl in my head."

_It is far too late for that, _he laughed. _I will need control of this body if I am to channel that much energy through it._

"But-" It broke off, then shook its head. "But you're not a girl?"

_I was neither. Now I am in you, you are male, and so I am as well. _He reached for control of the body and the human hesitated before giving way. He wiggled his fingers, brushing them against each other, and getting used to the sharper human sensations. "Shall we try this?"

_It's not going to hurt, is it?_ the human mind asked.

"I do not know. I have not done this before." He pushed off the bed and walked to the middle of the room, where he could see his reflection in the mirror. He picked at the odd red shirt the human had chosen to wear. "This is not my shirt."

_I'm sick of that white shirt,_ it grumbled. _I'm going to cut it up and burn it._

He frowned, but shook his head and tried to ignore it. He focused on the sensations of his energy – the 'fizzy' feeling the human had mentioned. He felt power trickle through his limbs. It was cool and ethereal and welcoming. Closing his eyes, he felt his toes lift off the ground, energy curling around and through him.

_That feels weird._

"It is how a ghost feels," he replied, opening his eyes to studying his reflection. His eyes were a glowing, normal green.

_Fizzy?_

He dropped back lightly to the ground, letting the energy die away. There was a light-headed, dizzy feeling in his mind. "Light. Powerful. Endless."

_It just feels like I have soda running through my veins._

"You do not appreciate the power," he said with a shrug. "I do not believe that will work to recreate what you saw."

_Try something else?_

"Like what?" he asked. He picked at the edge of the red shirt. "I do not like this shirt. It is more itchy than the other."

_-Annoyed!- _If the human would've had teeth, it likely would've been clenching them. _How about if you focus all the energy in one place? See if you can get something to change other than green eyes?_

"I suppose I can try it." He held his hand out in front of him and focused on it. Energy curled into the hand, making the skin seem to glow. But it didn't change. It didn't do anything. He sighed and twisted the hand invisible, then out of phase, then back to normal. "I do not believe that accomplished anything either."

_How about-_

"How about if you try?"he said.

It was silent in his mind. _I can't._

"I will show you." He waited a beat. "Perhaps I cannot do it. This is your body, perhaps you will be the one who needs to do this."

There was a long period of silence before, _Fine._

He released the body back to the human's control. He waited as it clenched and wiggled its fingers and bounced on its toes. "How do I do this?" it asked, finally.

_Close your eyes. I will show you_.

The human paced a few times back and forth before muttering a, "I'm going to hell for this," and closed his eyes.

_Hell does not exist unless you wish it to,_ he told it. _I know several ghosts who have confined themselves within hell's borders. It is the choice of the individual._

"Just show me," it said through clenched teeth.

He chuckled a little. Then reached down inside and swirled energy up to the human. _Feel it?_

It shivered. "Yes."

_Try to hold onto it._

Strangely, it moved its fingers, grasping at nothing.

_With your mind,_ he told it, pushing towards the human.

It moved its mind awkwardly. It didn't even seem to notice where the energy was, simply flailing around randomly.

_Just take it!_

_"_I can't," it hissed. "I don't know how to do this!"

He settled back on his haunches in its mind, thinking that through. _That is all I do. I reach out and take what energy I wish. Can you not do the same?_

"I don't know where it is!"

_It is inside and outside and everywhere. _He pushed a swirl of energy at the human, causing it to shiver again. _You can feel it._

"When you do that, yes." It opened its eyes and sighed, sinking down to the floor. "But not on my own."

_I wonder why not._

"Because I'm a human?" it asked, its voice sounding sarcastic. "Humans can't do this kinda stuff."

He poked at its mind. _You turned your hand invisible earlier._

It shuddered. "Don't remind me," it mumbled. Then it sighed. "Well, I guess this was a waste of time."

He stared at the human's mind, quiet as it got to its feet. _Perhaps,_ he said, only half agreeing with its thoughts. It wasn't a total loss, however. The human finally attempting to become more like a ghost? He grinned and curled up in a corner of its mind as the human settled down to work on a bit of homework. No, he wouldn't call it a waste of time.


	9. The Powers

_Thanks Winged Element, YumeTakato, GhostEnvy, KTrevo, MsFrizzle, DarkFoxKit, Aurora Marie Williams, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Invader Johnny, TrustyFoxy, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Powers  
**

* * *

-Day 21-

"Sam!" The Danny was racing across the grass, panting heavily. "Hey, wait up!"

One of the humans up ahead paused and glanced over its shoulder. "Hey Danny."

"I've got the coolest thing to tell you," it said as it gasped for air. "Remember the accident I had in the lab?"

He sighed and settled back a bit in its mind. This was the agreement they'd come to that morning. The Danny wished to tell its friends about its new ghost abilities. It thought that maybe having other humans would help it learn. He didn't understand human thought processes well enough to refute the human's claim. So he'd – reluctantly – agreed that it could tell its friends that it had acquired ghost powers. Not about himself. Simply the abilities.

"The green eyed trick? I thought your dad said that energy was gone."

"It dissipated, yeah," The Danny said. "But not all the way."

The other human, the dark-skinned one, looked skeptical. "What do you mean?"

He poked at the human mind. _Which one is this?_ he asked. He was going to make an attempt to learn the human names, even if naming things didn't make sense.

"Tucker," The Danny answered absently. "I mean, watch." It poked at him.

Lost in his study of the human's features – orange hat, darker skin, glasses – he'd almost missed his cue. He reached out and twisted The Danny's hand invisible.

Both humans' mouths dropped open. "Woah," the first human said. It had black, longer hair and odd blue-purple eyes. Its name had to be The Sam. "How did you do that?"

"Ghost powers," The Danny said. His mind curled with -_Excitement.-_

The Tucker scoffed. "Ghost powers?" But its sarcastic look faded as it poked at The Danny's invisible hand. "Um… I guess… But…"

"That's awesome," The Sam whispered. "Can you turn more that just your hand invisible?"

"Yes…" The Danny said slowly, its mind making clear that it did not wish to do so, "but it's kinda freaky-feeling."

He watched the other humans through Danny's eyes, doing his best to memorize them. If The Danny was going to follow through on its part of the promise to attempt to learn something ghost-ish, he would do his best to learn something the humans seemed to find necessary. He didn't understand their thing with names, but he figured he could accept it.

"Do your parents know?" one of them asked. It took a moment for him to remember its name. The Tucker.

The Danny shook its head, almost desperately. "No."

"Why not? Aren't they, like, leading ghost researchers or something?" The Sam asked. It grabbed The Danny's hand and he let it fade back into view. "Oh, that's cool."

"No, it's not," The Danny said. "And they'd be pissed! Don't you remember what happened when Uncle Alfred wandered around in their lab a few years ago and got zapped?"

"You're not your Uncle Alfred," The Sam said blandly. "There was something _wrong_ with your Uncle Alfred."

_What is this instance?_

It was like the memory of it was shoved into his mind. A man – The Dad's brother – showing up at the door unexpectedly several years ago. The Danny's memories of its blank-eyed stare, and its fixation with the humans' basement lab. How it had stayed the night, and The Mom and The Dad had woken up in the middle of the night to find Uncle Alfred in the basement, supposedly sleep walking, horribly zapped by some invention or another. Uncle Alfred had spent several days in the hospital and, after The Mom's discovery that its computer files had been hacked into and its laboratory disrupted, was never allowed to return to the house.

He shivered, surprised by the memory, and tried to shove it away. But it felt like it was now lodged in his own mind. _Do not do that again._

"My parents still talk about him," The Danny was saying.

The Tucker shook its head. "Didn't he hack into your parents computer files?"

"Like my parents care about that," The Danny said, waving its hand. "They won't even install a basic firewall on their computers. But mess with their _inventions_?"

"Dude, they're not going to disown you," The Tucker said.

"No, they'll just experiment on me – painlessly, sure, but they will. Look at me like I'm an unnatural freak for the rest of my life. Quietly shudder and ignore me until I can't take it anymore and more out and never come back." The Danny shook its head. "That's _much_ better."

The Sam sighed. "You're overreacting."

The Danny shot it a frustrated look. "That's not the point. I don't _need_ to tell my parents."

"Then what's the point?" it asked, blinking at it with those wide, blue-purple eyes.

There was something about its eyes. A sort of sparkle in them that he recognized from somewhere. A memory, perhaps. _This is The Sam. Is it a 'she' or a 'he'?_

He felt The Danny sigh. "She," it said, then hesitated, glancing at its friends. "See," it said, emphasizing the word, "I don't need to tell them. I can get control of it on my own."

"And you'd have ghost powers," The Tucker said. "Like a superhero."

He narrowed his eyes at the word _Superhero_. The Tucker had said it like it deserved capital letters and italics, much like _School_, only backwards. What was this thing?

"That sounds like a bad plan," The Sam said. It – _she_ – shook her head.

The Danny sighed and shook its head. "I can go invisible, and out of phase, and I'm trying to learn to fly."

"_Fly_?" There was a strange note in The Sam's voice. It sounded like longing.

"Yeah," it said, grabbing hold of the thought and running with it. "Flying, Sam. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

_You do not enjoy it when I go flying. You spend the entire time complaining._

He was ignored by The Danny. "Come on, Sam. I need your help. I wanna learn how to fly, and I need you to help me learn." It grabbed her hands. They were much smoother and softer than The Danny's. And her fingernails were purple, rather than peach-colored like The Danny's.

The Sam hesitated. Her face twitched into a frown. "Danny…" she sighed.

"Oh come on, Sam," The Tucker said, throwing its arm around The Danny's shoulders. "This'll be fun!"

"Oh yes," The Danny said. "Watching me fail over and over. Fun." Its shoulders drooped, but there was a smile still on its face.

"Alright," The Sam said after a long moment. "But let's find someplace a bit quieter to do this." She stuck her finger in The Danny's face. "And I want it on record that I don't agree with you about not telling your parents."

"Yeah, I got it," The Danny said.

The Sam nodded, crossing her arms on her chest. "Well, lead on then."

The Tucker knew exactly where to go. It lead them through a bunch of trees to a large rock in the middle of a small clearing. "The last remaining remnant of our town's glacial till," it said, gesturing at the large rock. It sighed dramatically. "The rest has been lost to technological advance and the need for flat, not-filled-with-giant-rocks land."

"Yes, so sad," The Danny said. "What's your plan?"

The Tucker pointed towards the top of the rock. It was perhaps ten feet up. "Jump."

"Yeah… no," The Danny muttered. "That sounds like a _bad_ plan."

_I think it sounds like a good plan._

"I think it sounds like a good plan," The Sam said at almost the exact same time.

The Danny glanced over at The Sam, startled. "Oh, you would _all_ be against me."

"Yeah, all two of us," The Tucker said. "Climb. Show us what you got. Ten feet won't kill you."

"It could seriously hurt me," The Danny muttered as it walked to the side of the rock mostly buried in dirt and found a few handholds.

_I will not let you be hurt by a fall._

"That's not reassuring," it mumbled, scrambling to the top of the rock. "How does this flying thing work?"

_The same as invisibility, only not. You just fly._

"Helpful," it said darkly. -_Dread- _filled its mind as it peered over the edge. The two other humans peered back up at him. "I don't want to do this."

"Jump!" The Tucker cheered. It had a small device in its hand, pointed towards The Danny.

He pulled energy towards them, wrapping it around the human body. The Danny stiffened. "Fizzy," it hissed.

_You don't weigh anything. There is no gravity to pull you downwards. You are powerful and light and filled with energy._

It closed its eyes, taking another shaky step towards the edge of the rock. "I feel…"

_Take another step,_ he coached, _you're not to the edge yet._

Slowly, The Danny edged further and further forwards. "How close-" it opened its eyes. It glanced down, only to notice it was hovering a dozen feet in the air.

_You're fine._

It fell.

"Ow," it hissed as it hit the ground and rolled onto its back. "Frickin' _ow._ Whose plan was this again?"

"Dude," The Tucker said softly. "You were, like, two feet out in the air before you opened your eyes."

"I noticed," it said darkly. "That's because I was trusting the stupid little voice in my head that said I wasn't to the edge yet!"

_It worked, did it not? You were flying._

Its eyes jerked open. -_Surprise-_ flashed through it. "I was flying."

_Yes, you were._

Blue-purple eyes and black hair appeared over them. The Sam had a rather large smile on her face. "Yeah, Danny, you were flying." The smile faded slightly. "Not very long, and you didn't land well, but I guess you could call that flying."

"It was more like hovering," The Tucker cut in.

_You should try that again._

"I'm _not_ going to try that again," The Danny said firmly. "Not today, anyways."

"That's too bad," The Tucker said, turning the little device it had in its hands around. It showed a short video of The Danny hovering in air before tumbling to the ground. "It'd make a good YouTube smashup."

"Don't you dare," The Danny said, reaching for the device.

He touched The Danny's hand with a bit of energy, twisting it out of phase just before it was able to grab the device. It flailed through The Tucker's hand and back to the ground. _I wish to watch the video again_.

"Oh, hell no," The Danny muttered, wriggling his fingers. "It feels like I have fizzy pop running under my skin."

_Tell it to play the video again._

The Sam reached over and took the device, laughing a little as she rewound the clip and played it again. "I loved the look on your face," she said as she paused it just as The Danny realized it was floating. "Coyote meet Roadrunner."

"Knock it off, Sam," The Danny muttered, flexing its fingers and trying to rid itself of the energy still lingering there.

But he was watching The Sam, and the way the sunlight glittered on her black hair. He hadn't found a single human he liked in this world. They were disgusting, heavy things. But this human had something else about her. Something… almost supernatural.

.

.9.

.

-Day 22-

_You need to knock it off with the 'The' before everyone's name._

He picked at the shoelaces, still not sure of how to tie them. "Is that not how humans show respect to each other?"

_No._

He crossed the laces a few times, pretending to do what The Danny had shown him. "It is how ghosts show respect. The Council is a collection of the most powerful amongst us. We would be destroyed were we to call them simply 'Council'."

_Give that to me._ _And no, humans don't do that. We have other titles, sometimes._

His hands started to move on their own. They went through a quick set of movements to get the laces tied. "What kind of title would be appropriate for The Mom?"

_None. She's just Mom._

He flexed his fingers once the shoes were tied, getting them back under his own control. "That does not make sense."

_Sam is just Sam. Tucker's just Tucker. And I'm just Danny. Not The Danny._

He sighed and stood up. "I will agree with that statement if you allow me to wear the white shirt today instead of this monstrosity." He picked at the splashy colors of blue and red swirled on the fabric.

_It's not a debate, Ghost. It's just the way it is. Kind of like the fact that you can't wear the same shirt every day!_

"I would if I were in my world." He grabbed the backpack beside the door and walked down the hallway. "How long must I do this?"

_Two hours. Then I'll take over._

He narrowed his eyes and tromped down the steps, jumping the last few and landing lightly on his feet. "I will get to fly tonight, correct?"

_That was the deal._ It settled back in his mind. _You want to fly, I want to sleep. _

Hesitating at the foot of the stairs, he eyed the kitchen nervously. "I do not wish to eat breakfast with The Mom-"

_Just Mom._

He pressed his lips together. "I do not wish to eat breakfast at all, much less with Mom and Dad." He struggled over the words. "There is no title of respect for them, even though you profess that they are older and wiser and more powerful than you?"

It shook its head. _No. They're just my parents. And you have to eat breakfast. Remember how hungry I get when you didn't? Besides. I smell omelets. You'll like that._

"I do not like eating. It is unnatural."

_No it's not. Try the omelets._

"Fine," he said, dropping the backpack next to the door and walking into the kitchen. He paused in the doorway, eying the humans. The Dad was easy to pick up – the largest one and the male of the group, now that he was starting to understand what the word 'male' meant. The other two he still got confused. "Which is Mom again?"

_The taller one._

He flicked his eyes from one to the other – as one was sitting and the other standing, the comment wasn't helpful.

_The one standing up,_ it continued after an exasperated moment. _How come you can't tell them apart?_

"Humans are hard to tell apart," he hissed as he stalked into the room to claim a chair. The Dad ate loudly, saliva glittering in its mouth when it chewed without closing its lips. He scooted his chair away from The Dad as far as he could, avoiding the human's wide bulk and jabbing elbow if nothing else.

When a plate was set in front of him, he glanced up at the human. "Thank you, Mom," he told it.

"You're welcome, Sweetie," it answered with a pleased smile. "Hear that, Jack? _Someone_ knows their manners."

The Dad just continued to noisily eat its food.

_'His', by the way. Not 'its'._

He pressed his lips together and picked up the fork, not wanting to answer but sending annoyed thoughts in the human mind's direction none-the-less. It seemed to get the point. The eggs were squelchy on the plate as he cut into them. He stuck it with the tines of the fork and brought it up to his nose to smell. It did not smell sweet like the pink cake had been. "Are you sure this is edible?" he murmured.

_Mostly. Just eat it._

"I heard that," came a sour voice.

He glanced towards The Mom, who had just settled into a chair next to him. He sent it a small smile and stuck the bit of omelet into his mouth. Taste curled through his mind. He mushed it around with his tongue a moment, trying to decide if it was something he didn't mind the taste of.

Actually, oddly, it tasted familiar. Swallowing that bite, he took another, trying to remember where this taste had come from. "Mother made these for me," he whispered, startled as the memory stirred in the back of his mind.

As usual, with his own memories, it felt dusty and unused. It was being dragged back into his mind after over two centuries of being locked away. Dim, broken, and hazy, it was little more than a fleeting memory of sitting at a table, eating eggs, his feet unable to touch the ground.

He managed to eat almost half the omelet before his mind rebelled against the idea of eating any more. "I am finished."

"We're all glad to hear that," the other female human stated blandly. It shot him a glare.

He gazed back for a moment before asking the question in the front of his mind. "Who are you again?"

The human mind started to laugh. _I can't believe you said that._

The female's eyes narrowed darkly. "You watch where you sleep, little brother."

"I do," he replied, slightly confused. "I am going to go to _School_. Have a good day, Mom and Dad." He pushed away from the table and left the kitchen, grabbing his backpack and hurrying out the front door. "May we fly to _School_?"

_No. We need to meet Sam and Tucker._

He frowned slightly, but sighed and kept walking. "What is the other female's name again?"

_Jazz. She's my sister._

"And what did she mean by the sleeping comment?"

_It was a threat. Can you handle it from here?_

He narrowed his eyes and turned around to look at the house. "Should I have threatened her back?"

_No! Promise you'll go to school if I go to sleep._

"I do not enjoy _School._" He shook his head and left contemplating revenge on The Jazz for later. With even his limited experience with _School_, he knew he would be bored quite quickly and need something to occupy his mind. "But I will go."

The human mind sighed with relief and seemed to burrow down into his mind. By the time he'd reached the corner where he was to wait for The Sam and The Tucker, the human was fast asleep.

"Why am I following its orders?" he muttered, leaning against a strange blue metal bin. He looked around at the beautiful autumn day, taking in the colors and the feelings he would never be able to experience in the ghost zone. The way the green tree leaves swayed in the breeze. The way the flowers from the garden nearby exploded the air with scent. The soft bee that buzzed nearby. "I am not some pet in a cage that is required to follow the orders of my human master," he grumbled.

But he didn't move.

It didn't take more than a few minutes and The Sam came jogging around the corner. He grinned and raised a hand to wave at her. "Good morning-" he broke off before he could put in the 'The', "Sam."

"You're really awake for a Monday morning. Who dragged you out of bed today?" the human asked, yawning and stretching languorously. "Usually only Tucker's the one awake."

"I dragged myself out of bed," he responded slowly, wondering if it was the correct thing to say. "It is a beautiful day."

She smiled at him, hiking her backpack further up on her shoulder. "Yeah, you're obviously in a good mood."

"Shall we walk to school?"

An eyebrow arched and she looked around. "And not wait for Tucker? Any particular reason why you're ditching your best friend?"

He cursed silently. He'd forgotten about the male. "We can walk slowly," he suggested. "I am tired of standing still."

"M-kay…" she drawled. "Walk we shall do." She eyed him. "What's up with you?"

He flushed – an odd sensation of warmth that no ghost should have to suffer through – and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I am wearing the wrong shirt." She chuckled and he felt the flush on his face grow. Only, strangely, this time the sensation was almost pleasant.

"Yeah, you've worn that white shirt a lot lately," she said. "That's not really what I meant though."

She started to walk and he had to jog to catch up. "What is it you meant?"

"The way you talk. The way you move. The way you look at things, it's like you've never seen them before. There's just… something odd with you today."

He frowned slightly. He would have to try harder to emulate the human mind. "I am sorry."

She waved her hand, the purple fingernails glittering in the sunlight. "Nah, you don't have to apologize, Danny. It's just different from your usual 'I don't care' attitude."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, listening to the cars pass with whooshes of sound, before The Tucker came huffing down the street. "Wait up!" it called.

"Oh, look who finally decided to roll out of bed," The Sam teased as she paused to wait for it to catch up. "We were going to wait for you, but we didn't want the apocalypse happening before we got to school."

He felt a grin grow on his face, although he didn't know who or what The Apocalypse could be. It sounded like something that should be avoided.

The Tucker glared at them. "What's got you two this happy so early?"

"Danny acting weird," The Sam said cheerfully. She rested an arm over his shoulders and started walking towards _School_. "I was debating between alien abduction and genetically enhanced super virus myself."

He felt the warmth grow on his face again and he shot her a look. "I am not acting weird," he told her.

The Tucker eyed him with an odd expression on its face. "Yeah, you're acting weird." The expression resolved into a secretive smile. "And I think I know why." It laughed softly.

The fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach was something like panic. "You know?" he asked, startled. The half-memories from The Danny's mind of what the humans would do to them if they were discovered flitted through his thoughts.

The Tucker pushed The Sam's arm off his shoulders. She huffed slightly as The Tucker pulled him in conspiratorially. "Oh, don't think I can't guess," it said in an undertone. "And don't think I'll let you live this down."

He licked his lips. "But you will let me live?" he asked, just as quietly.

The Tucker looked past him to where The Sam was walking. "Probably."

He felt his shoulders relax. "And you will keep it a secret?"

"As long as you let me get all the blushy moments on video." It pulled the little device from its pocket it had used the other day to record The Danny's first attempt at flying. "It'll be YouTube _gold_ some day."

"I suppose," he answered slowly, unsure of what a 'blushy moment' was, but willing to fake it until The Danny woke up to tell him.

The Tucker cackled. "It'll be great!" it said, losing the quiet tone and letting him go.

"You two done conspiring?" The Sam muttered darkly. "At this slow pace, we'll all be in detention for being late to school."

Although he didn't see too much wrong with the thought of being late to _School_, he allowed the two humans to drag him along faster, reaching _School_ just before the bell rang.


	10. The Cold

_Thanks nycorrall, MySadistChibi, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, YumeTakato, DB-KT, BiblioMatsuri, MsFrizzle, Invader Johnny, Aurora Marie Williams, KTrevo, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Cold**

* * *

-Day 23-

Ghosts don't sleep. It was a fact of his existence and always had been. However, when he was curled up in the darkness of the human mind, waiting for _School_ to be over, strange memories played through his head. They weren't his memories, he was nearly certain. They contained cars and airplanes and tennis shoes. But he was also pretty sure they didn't belong to The Danny.

One particularly odd memory surfaced of walking down the street, talking to The Sam about a movie they'd seen, and suddenly finding the road disintegrating beneath his feet. Water surged around him, choking him. He heard The Sam scream distantly, her voice broken as waves covered her again and again. He yelled something and reached for her, but she vanished beneath the water, which had mysteriously turned an inhuman green.

The scream startled him out of the memory and he lay in the corner of the human mind, thinking through what he'd seen. He could distantly hear the human's thoughts, worming around and mumbling numbers. There was something oddly reassuring about it.

Too disturbed by the odd memory to relax, he uncurled and slid closer to the world. The Danny was sitting in his study class, staring down at a sheet full of scribbles. From the muttered numbers and the calculator sitting on the table, he assumed it was attempting to do math again. _Having fun?_

It flinched, drawing a line on the paper. It scowled. "Had a bad dream?" it asked softly, erasing the stray line.

_Ghosts do not dream. We do not sleep._

"If you say so. You felt pretty asleep to me, though," it mumbled.

He felt a flicker of confusion, but pushed it aside. _What are you working on?_

"Balancing chemical equations. You wouldn't happen to be a chemical genius from the 1700s, would you?"

_I do not understand what a chemical equation is._

It set the pencil down with a sigh. "No help then. I'll have to bug Sam later."

_How much longer is School today?_

"The same length as always," it breathed, looking up at the clock and tapping a finger on the table. "I get to go home at 3:10." Then it paused. Shivered. Something that felt like ice had been run down its back. "Oh, not again," it whispered.

_I have never felt this before. What is it?_ He pulled away from the unpleasant sensation.

"You don't know?" It sounded surprised. "But it started when you…" it trailed off, looking around. It shivered again, running its hands over its arms where little bumps had appeared.

_I do not know what it is,_ he replied. But _I do not like it._

It hesitated a minute longer, then stood up and walked up to the front of the room, trying in vain to suppress its shivering. "May I use the bathroom?" it asked the human sitting behind the desk. He'd given up on learning The Teacher's name, as The Teacher seemed to change shape and appearance from room to room.

"Yup," it replied blandly.

The Danny hurried from the room and walked quickly down the hallway. _Where are you going?_

It shivered and wrapped its arms around itself. "To grab a jacket, if nothing else," it answered shortly. "And hopefully away from whatever's causing the cold."

They passed several other humans standing in the hallways. _None of the other humans seem to feel it,_ he noted.

The Danny nodded. "And it's getting worse," it murmured, its breath fogging in the air.

The coldness was an almost painful bite against its skin. The feeling radiated into his mind as well. He shuddered. _We should locate the source of the cold._

It reached its locker, quickly spinning the combination and grabbing the thin jacket that was stuffed inside. "Why in the world would I want to do that?" It put the jacket on, but it didn't seem to help.

_So it could be avoided in the future._

That made The Danny pause. It closed the locker and looked down the hallway. "Yeah, okay. It's gotta be this way, right?" it said, its forehead furrowing in thought. "Since it's getting colder..." It hesitated a moment longer, then started to pace down the hallway.

The cold grew from uncomfortable to truly painful. Every breath was a thick fog in front of its face. It had curled its fingers up inside of its pockets, but they were going numb from the cold. The Danny was wondering why ice wasn't forming on the building around them.

The Danny turned its eyes towards the storeroom door. He focused on it as well. There was something behind the door. The thing that made this cold.

"We should see what it is," it whispered, edging closer.

_We know where it is. Now we should leave._ He reached for the body's hands, hoping to keep them trapped inside of its pockets. The human would need them to open the door. He didn't want to know what was inside of the closet.

He was nothing more than a tiny scrap of a ghost – bottom of the food chain, nearly – and he'd existed as long as he had because he didn't do stupid things like open doors that were probably hiding something that was emitting a deadly cold. He had a good dose of fear when it came to things that could eat, maim, destroy, or otherwise ruin a perfectly solid existence.

The Danny, though, wanted to. It struggled for control of the hands, causing waves of pain to rip through both their minds.

Then, quite suddenly, the cold was gone.

Both of them stopped and stared at the door to the storage room, warmth starting to leech back into The Danny's body. "That's… weird," it whispered.

_May we go now?_ he asked, not caring if he sounded a little desperate.

The Danny edged up to the door, pulling a hand from its pocket and quickly tapping the doorknob. It wasn't cold. "Just a second."

_I do not wish to know._

"It's gone," it said, although it didn't sound very convinced. It grabbed the doorknob and jiggled it. The door was locked. "Can you do your walk-through-walls thing and get us through?"

_No._ He pulled away from the human mind. _I do not wish to go into that room._

"I wonder what it was…"

_I do not,_ he answered. _I wish to never meet it again._

The Danny stood there, with his hand on the door, breathing quietly for a moment. Feeling was starting to return to its fingers in tingles and flashes of pain.

_Do you not wish to return to class?_

"Yeah," he whispered, letting go of the knob and slowly heading back up the hallway. "You've never felt anything like that before we…" it trailed off, flushing as some of the other humans shot it looks. "Ya-know," he finished quietly.

_No. I have never felt something like that before either_. He shook his head. _Ghosts do not feel cold._ _I did not understand the concept of temperature until I was trapped in your mind._

The Danny sighed and made its way back to class, dropping heavily into its seat. It poked at its homework a few times before pushing it away with a sigh. "I can't do this."

_I am sorry. I cannot help._

It tapped its finger on the desk. "Wanna practice writing again?"

_No._ After a few practice sessions in earlier study periods, he had determined that he did not have the necessary skill set to do the human task called 'writing'. The scribbles simply all looked the same. It was an illogical waste of time to try to learn it and, besides, ghosts weren't creatures well known for learning.

"I'll let you try to teach me to fly again," it bribed.

He paused. Having the human on his side when it came to flying was something he rather wanted. He loved flying. Teaching the human to enjoy it too would allow him to fly more often. And writing a few squiggles on a page really wasn't that difficult a chore. _For how long?_

"Alphabet once through," it said, picking up the pencil and wiggling it.

_And you will leave the cold alone?_

It hesitated, the pencil stopping its wiggle, but then it nodded. "Deal."

With a sigh, he reached for the human body. The human mind gave way, allowing him control of the hands. The feel of the pencil in his fingers was suddenly more real. He blinked his eyes and shifted, trying to find a comfortable position, as he maneuvered the pencil into the correct place between his fingers. "Which is first?"

_A._

The human pushed a picture of an 'A' into his mind when he hesitated for too long. Then, carefully biting his tongue, he put pencil to paper and tried to make the squiggles look right.

.

.10.

.

-Day 23-

"Just two seconds," The Danny muttered as it grabbed its backpack from the locker and raced down the hallway. "We just gotta meet up with Sam and we can go home."

_You promised we would leave at 3:10. It is now 3:14._ He poked at its mind.

The Danny scowled. "I should never have taught you how to read a clock."

He shrugged in response and settled back. He'd been slowly 'learning' things simply from the human's presence – he figured he'd know how to tell time by this point regardless. It wasn't an extremely difficult concept.

It skidded to a stop in front of a new room in the _School_. It poked its head in, spotting The Sam slouching in a chair by the side. "Rescue!" she said, jumping to her feet.

An overweight human looked up from its spot at the desk. "You walkin' her home?" it growled.

The Danny nodded. "Come on, Sam."

"_God,"_ The Sam muttered, closing the door behind her and storming up the hallway. "It's just a headache. You'd think my parents thought I were dying."

He frowned a little in thought. _The Sam is dying?_ The thought brought with it a strange swirl of emotion. -_Worry?_-

"You're not dying," The Danny said with a roll of its eyes. "Be happy your parents didn't show up with the cavalry like mine would have."

The answer uncurled the little knot of emotion that had been formed. _I am glad she is not dying._

"Your parents don't have a cavalry," The Sam muttered, almost dragging them out of the school and onto the sidewalk. "They'd send some strange invention to get you. A robotic… ghost… thingy."

The Danny curled the corner of its mouth into a grin. "And they'd have some odd name for it, to keep the ghosts from knowing what it was for."

_Why would you not wish ghosts to know what the robotic thingy is?_ he put in questioningly. _And what is a robotic thingy?_

The human mind pushed at his – the _shut up_ self evident.

He scowled and curled up, unhappily allowing the human to continue its conversation without his input.

Only… "Sammikins!"

Both humans stopped in their tracks. "Oh no. Oh dear, _God_, no," The Sam whispered.

The Danny slowly glanced over its shoulder. A human dressed in shades of pinks and purples leaned out a car, waving its hand in the hair. It had a strange hat on its head that seemed to be sprouting feathers and trying to escape. "Sammikins!" it called again.

The Sam walked in the other direction. "I didn't see anything," she muttered.

"Sam? Isn't that your mom?" The Danny asked slowly, chasing after her.

"No. I don't know her. I've never met anyone by that description before. And if she tries to force me into her vehicle, I will scream and yell like a woman being kidnapped."

The Danny frowned. "Isn't that a little harsh?"

"No. It's a little too nice," The Sam said darkly.

There was the sound of a car crunching up behind them on the pavement. When it drove past, The Danny glanced in its direction. The car was black, and the strange human was still leaning out the back window. "Samantha," it said, the cheerfulness gone from its voice. "Do you have no manners?"

"My parents never taught me any," she said. Her fingers were clenched around the strap of her backpack and she'd come to a stop beside the road. "It's a _headache_, Mother. I don't need to be driven to the emergency room."

"I had no such plans," the other human said primly. "We have an important business meeting to attend. Get in the car."

"Yeah, I have plans," The Sam said. "I'll see you after this meeting."

"Samantha Marie Manson." Another human was leaning out of the back window. "Do as your mother says."

He perked up a little in the human's mind, trying to determine who could be driving the car if both adults were in the back seat. From what he'd seen, the cars were unable to drive themselves, and Danny had been adamant about the fact that human families were made up of two parents and children.

She opened her mouth to complain, but stopped with a broken, horrible sigh. "Dad…" she pleaded, but it seemed to be a futile effort.

"Now, Samanatha," the two humans in the car said at the same time.

She scowled. "If I don't show up at school tomorrow, tell the world who took me," she said under her breath as she stalked past and got into the front passenger seat.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Manson," The Danny said, waving.

The window of the black car rolled up without an answer and veered off down the street.

_The Sam does not like those two humans,_ he said.

"Yeah, that's obvious," The Danny muttered. It stuffed its hands into its pockets and started to slouch up the street. "Tucker's in detention, Sam's off someplace. So all my afternoon plans are shot."

_Would you like to try flying?_

"No." The short answer was accompanied by a sharp shake of its head.

He was quiet a moment, watching The Danny walk a few blocks in silence, before putting the question in his mind into words. _Why did The Sam think she was dying?_

It sighed. "She didn't. She had a headache. She gets those every once in a while."

_Why?_ He knew the concept of a headache, but not what caused them. _Does she also have a ghost inside of her mind?_

It snorted and shook its head. "No. She just does. I think girls get lots of headaches."

Pleased that the human seemed to be willing to answer his questions, he pressed on. _What was that room she was trapped inside? Is that a place for humans who are in pain?_

Its nose wrinkled. "Yeah… no… kinda. That was the nurse. She helps people that are sick get better."

_Like The Lancer was sick. He stayed in this room as well?_

"No."

_But you said-_

"Look, I know what I said. But there are lots of places to go if you get sick, not just the one room in our school." It kicked at a rock, sending it tumbling down the street. "Why do you want to know, anyways?"

He thought about that. _I am curious. I am trapped in this world and I wish to understand. Your world is so different from mine._

The Danny shrugged. "Ghosts don't get sick?"

_I do not understand the concept of sick._

"Well…" The Danny trailed off. It kicked the rock again, but this time more lightly. It skittered a bit, coming to rest a few feet ahead. "Sick is when you have a virus inside of you."

He waited a beat for more than that. _What is a virus?_

"A bug. Another thing that gets into you and makes you not feel well-"

_The Lancer had another thing inside of its body? A virus?_ He felt the human's understanding of the concept of _sick_ curl through him. Images of _sick_ flickered through his mind and made him shudder in revulsion.

"Yeah."

_And The Sam does as well?_ He rather liked The Sam. To think she had something inside of her, making her unwell…

"No." The Danny sighed. "She just has a headache."

_But she could, some day._

It stopped and blinked. "Well, yeah. All humans get sick."

That thought made him freeze. _Including you?_

"Yes…"

_Humans are disgusting things,_ he told it, struggling to keep his repulsion in check. _I forbid you from allowing the viruses inside of you while I am present._

The Danny arched an eyebrow. "Forbid?" he echoed skeptically. "It's not usually a choice I get."

_You will learn how to make that choice. I must put up with your filthy eating habit, I will not deal with your desire to become sick._

It snorted disbelievingly. "_Desire?_" it repeated. "I don't _want_ to get sick! And I have to eat or I'd die."

_I do not believe you._ He curled up in the back corner of the human's mind, still shuddering in disgust at the idea of getting sick. That small room in the _School_ – the nurse – notched up on his scale of places he never wished to revisit. The human world had many such places.

"Ghost."

He could just barely hear the human as it sighed and continued walking towards its home.

.

.10.

.

-Day 23-

"Jack, look at this," The Mom said as it paged through a handful of letters it had picked up from the table.

The Dad bounded over. It was still wearing its bright orange jumpsuit. "Postcard?"

He was sitting at the table, picking through an after school snack of a cheese sandwich The Mom had insisted he eat, proclaiming that he was getting too skinny from not eating enough. He figured he was eating too much. Case in point: this cheese sandwich deserved to be not eaten.

"It's from Vlad Masters." There was a strange note in The Mom's voice.

"Vladdie? I haven't heard from him in years," The Dad said, picking up the postcard. Its face twisted into a smile. "He's planning a college reunion in a couple of months."

"I read that," The Mom said.

"He's wondering what we're up to," The Dad was saying with an excited grin.

He took the moment to excuse himself before the two humans had noticed he wasn't eating his sandwich. He grabbed the offending bit of food and carted it up to The Danny's bedroom. No doubt the human would want to eat it later.

He dropped the plate onto the desk and then collapsed onto the human's bed. It was soft. He closed his eyes and poked the human mind. No response – it was fast asleep.

It was just over three weeks since he'd been trapped in this world. It was hard to imagine it at times; a tiny scrap of a ghost like him spending nearly a month in the human world. None of the ghosts would believe him when he got home.

_If._ If he got home.

He rolled onto his stomach and pulled the pillow closer to bury his head in. The thoughts of his home had become more and more distant as the days dragged on. Lately, they were stirred more by his strange memories than actual thoughts in his head. Ghosts didn't belong in the human world. It was a fact of existence he'd never wanted to fight.

But the human world was like one of those viruses The Danny had told him about. It was bright and full of feelings and tastes and smells that made his world explode into reality. This human existence made the world of the ghosts seem dull and empty. It snuck its way into every nook and cranny of his thoughts, contaminating them.

There were many things he didn't _want_ to leave, regardless of the fact that a ghost like him shouldn't be here. The thought of going home had quickly stopped being something he wished for, and had become an almost painful thought. A nagging, aching sensation that he didn't want to leave, not yet. He wanted to experience just one more day, to see just one more thing, even if it meant dealing with humans and all their disgusting living habits.

He snorted and curled up a bit closer to the pillow. "Humans," he muttered. They were half the problem. Although they were heavy and thoughtless and fleshy, repulsive creatures… they weren't as bad as he'd expected them to be. Some of them even were growing on him. The Sam was an interesting human. Even The Danny had good points – now and then.

It was almost three weeks since The Danny had stolen him from his world. Eighteen days since he had been convinced not to tell the other humans of his existence. So little time when compared to his long existence in the ghost world. And yet, that short amount of time had changed so much.

He sat up, punching at the pillow, and ran a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. "Danny?" he asked, poking fiercely at the human mind.

_What?_ it muttered quietly.

"Can we go flying tonight?"

It grumbled something akin to agreement before sinking back into sleep.

He sighed, shaking his head. Flying was one of the best things about this world. Especially at night, when everything was consumed by shadows and moonlight. The human was slowly coming to appreciate it as well – and slowly getting better at it. The last time they'd gone flying a few nights ago, The Danny had kept itself in the air for several minutes before needing help. It had taken an interest in learning to use its energy after the cold thing in the storage room.

Another thing he'd been struggling with were The Danny's memories. He picked up the pillow and held it to his chest, closed his eyes, and focused. He wanted something, a memory.

And there it was. The Danny was celebrating a birthday party last year. It had just blown out the candles and was getting teased for missing one.

He flicked his eyes open and shook his head, pushing the memory away. He didn't understand why the human's memories were encroaching on his mind, and he wasn't comfortable with it. It made him worry that the human was getting at his memories too, what few he had left from his life.

With nothing to do put wait for the human to wake up, he lay back down on the bed and stared at the stains on the ceiling. That one over there looked something like a dog, when he turned his head and squinted just right.

The stains couldn't keep his churning thoughts away, though. They chased his mind around in circles until he closed his eyes, and then they followed him. He wasn't sleeping.

Ghost's don't sleep. And they don't dream.

But maybe it was some sort of memory. He was sitting at a table he didn't recognize. A thick-set human was bustling around the kitchen, eventually setting a plate with some bread in front of him. It said something, but he couldn't hear it.

He watched it scrub at some dishes as several other humans, children by their size, came into the room and surrounded him at the kitchen table. They all got a bit of bread too, from the largest human. It was talking, something mumbled and indistinct.

Then the humans were all gone, except for him and the human. It was staring at him, waggling a finger, and its mouth moved in mushy sounds as it pointed to things.

"I don't understand," he told it.

It strode across the kitchen and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. It was white, he realized, his favorite shirt, even back in his memories. The human shook him a moment, making his head spin. "Get to work, Daniel!" it shouted, then tossed him back into the chair.

He watched as it stalked from the room. Alone in the room, he reached into his mind and poked for the human mind. For a desperate moment he couldn't find it.

Then it was there. He poked it, got a sharp jab back, and found himself yanked out of memory. The Danny was sitting at the kitchen table, eating supper. It sent him grumbling thoughts.

He wavered, confused and lost, startled at the strangeness. Ghosts didn't remember their lives well enough to have anything but the most faint memories. Ghosts didn't dream.

And yet there was really no doubt that had either been a real memory, or a dream.

But ghosts don't have either of those.

_I'm still a ghost, right?_ He hadn't meant to ask the human, for surely the human wouldn't know or understand.

It stuck a forkful of food into its mouth, seemingly ignoring the question, and left him to contemplate his existence by himself.


	11. The Phantom

_Thanks Jae B, KTrevo, Samian, MsFrizzle, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, BiblioMatsuri, nycorrall, YumeTakato, Pterodactyl, DarkFoxKit, GhostEnvy, Invader Johnny, Aurora Marie Williams, TrustyFoxy, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Phantom**

* * *

-Day 25-

"Ghost!" The Danny screamed as it tumbled towards the ground.

_Stop falling,_ he told it.

"I can't," it yelled as its tumbled became a spin.

_You will never learn to fly like this._ He reached out and took control of the body just long enough to stabilize it. _Fly._

"No, I'm done for the day." It was focused carefully, keeping itself from falling, but only barely. "Please take over."

With a roll of his eyes, he grabbed hold of the human body and twirled it through a few barrel rolls and loop-the-loops before swinging up towards the scattered, blotchy clouds. "I do not understand what you find so difficult."

_I'm human. We're not made to fly._

"I am a ghost, we are not made to eat or write or read or-"

_I get it. _The Danny curled away from his thoughts. _You can stop._

He snorted and rolled onto his back to eye the moon. It was mostly full, looking large and bright in the sky. Stars speckled the blackness. He felt the human pause and come back to watch. "You like the stars," he told it.

_Of course. Don't you?_

"I do not dislike them," he said after a moment. "They are far away. They hold no bearing on my existence."

_But someday we'll get up there. We'll be able to go see what they're like, and find out if they have planets with life on them._

He stared up at the stars. "Why would you want to? Is this world not enough for you?"

The human mind laughed. _Of course it is. But aren't you curious about what's out there?_

A breeze whipped his hair in front of his eyes. "No."

_That's boring. _

"That is not my fault." He allowed his hold on the air to relax and he started to fall backwards. Rolling over, he turned his fall into a dive. The air rushed past as a howl in his ears.

Thankfully, the human had gotten so used to this by now that it didn't complain. _Where're we gonna fly tonight?_

"I'm not sure why you insist upon being awake when I go flying," he said into the howl of the wind. The lights below were resolving themselves into signs and windows and streetlights.

_I don't want to run into a building and die in my sleep_.

He rolled his eyes and started to angle out the dive, going as fast as he was able. The Danny had said this was called 'terminal velocity' and was somewhere around two hundred miles an hour. He wasn't sure if that was considered fast in this world, but it felt fast to him. "I will not run into anything, as we have previously discussed."

_And yet, it doesn't help me sleep._

"That is also not my fault." He whipped through the town, angling left and right to miss the worst of the tree branches, simply phasing through objects that were too big or seen too late to avoid.

_Have you ever noticed how nothing is your fault?_

He rolled, came to a stop, and landed in a small area surrounded by trees. Finding this particular house had been much easier by the light of the moon than he'd been expecting. "Thank you for noticing," he told it, running a hand through his wind-swept hair. "Now you will hopefully stop commenting on it."

_Yeah, that's not what I meant,_ it muttered. _What are we doing here?_

Turning his gaze towards the building just hidden behind the bushes and trees, he pointed towards it. "Sam lives here."

The human was still for a moment. _Yes, she does. So?_

"You have never been inside."

It was still again before answering. _I don't like it when you dig through my memories. And no, I haven't. Why are we here?_

He paced back and forth a moment, eying the house. "I thought of something today that I wish to try."

_And we need Sam?_

"I think you might," he said. "Most humans sleep at night, correct?" He phased through the bushes and started walking towards the darkened house.

_We're not waking her up in the middle of the night!_

He paused. "Why not?"

_For one, she's asleep. For two, she's a girl. For three, she's my friend and I don't want to freak her out by waking her up in the middle of the night because the ghost in my head told me to!_ A sharp tinge of _-Protectiveness-_ colored its thoughts.

He studied the house and the large windows. "You are protective of her."

_She's been my friend for a long time. She's like family._

"You would not let her get hurt."

It bristled in his mind. _Not from anyone. Not even you._

He waved his hand dismissively. "I do not want to hurt her. She will be fine." He started to walk again, but the human mind started to fight him. Pain lanced through his body and speared into his mind, making him stop and wince, rubbing at his head. "Please stop."

_Not until you tell me what's going on._

"Can you not just take the memory you wish?"

_I don't dig around in other people's memories. Even ones that are sharing my head._

He sighed. "Fine." He started to walk slowly towards the house. "You have been trying to figure out how to return to the ghost state you saw."

He felt the human's interest perk. _Yeah…_

"I believe I have a solution. However, it will require outside assistance."

_Why?_

He pressed his lips together, then shook his head. He was standing next to the door leading into the house. "Because I believe the reason we are failing is because I am the one doing the work. I believe you must do it."

_You're the ghost…_

"I am not sure that is completely true," he whispered, pressing a hand against the door. "And I am not so sure you are completely human anymore." When there was no comment from The Danny, he tilted his head. "May I wake her up now?"

It felt -_Unhappy.-_ _Why can't we wake up Tucker?_

"I do not like Tucker."

_What if her parents catch us?_

"Nobody can catch me if I do not wish them to. I am a ghost."

The unhappiness grew, which was all the answer he needed. With barely a thought, he was through the door, invisible, and slowly combing through the house in search of its human inhabitants.

Fortunately, the second room he checked was the correct one. The Sam was sitting up in her bed, a little light on, reading a book. He smiled a bit, walked across the room, and then lost his invisibility.

"Hello, Sam," he said pleasantly.

It did not go nearly as well as he would have thought. Perhaps he should have listened to The Danny's worries a bit more. The book was chucked at his head – which hurt quite a bit – and the scream that came out of her mouth was impressive.

The human instantly took over. "No, Sam, wait!" it said, holding out one hand and putting the other to its head. Warm liquid was spilling from the place where the book had hit.

She quit screaming, stared at him a moment, then a look of pure fury washed over her face. "Daniel James Fenton! What the _hell_ are you doing in my bedroom at two in the morning!" Her anger was a hissed whisper. "How did you get in here? _Why_ did you get in here? And don't you dare bleed on my bed!"

"Sammikins?" It was a voice from the hallway.

The Sam and The Danny tensed. "I'm fine, Dad," The Sam called back. "Bad dream."

The doorknob clicked and turned, then opened.

_Go invisible!_ he hissed to the human. _Now!_

Surprisingly, that was all it took. The Danny was invisible and quietly scooting out of the way in less than a heartbeat. He huddled in the corner of the room, hand pressed firmly to his head, trying to stifle his breathing.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The human that came into the room was an adult. It settled down onto the bed next to The Sam. "That was a pretty nasty scream."

The Sam smiled thinly. "I fell asleep when I was reading." She held up a book, seemingly as proof. "Scary bit. Shouldn't have been reading it right before bed. Sorry to wake you."

"Ah," the other human said. "You don't have to apologize." It leaned forwards and gave her a hug. "Just try to get back to sleep, okay?"

"Yes, Dad." She smiled at it as it left the room. "Good night."

The door clicked behind it, just as The Danny tumbled out of invisibility and sank to sit on the ground. Even holding its head, it smiled and felt _-Pleased_.- "I did it!" it cheered quietly.

The Sam pulled a blanket off the bed to wrap herself in, then strode over and stood over The Danny. "You haven't answered any of my questions yet," she said, her voice a furious whisper.

"Sorry, I saw you were awake," The Danny babbled, "and I just thought that you could help me do something, you know, because you said you would help and you were awake and…"

The Sam frowned. "It's two in the morning."

_Why does she care? She was already awake?_

The Danny pushed him away from its thoughts. "Sorry," it repeated. "I just thought, since you were awake. But if you don't want to, I'll go."

"How did you get into my room?"

_I am a ghost. I go where I please._

The Danny pushed at him again. "Ghost powers," it said, shrugging and going for a grin. Then, seeing the look on her face, held up its free hand. "I've never done it before and I'll never ever _ever_ do it again, on pain of death."

_Death is not painful._

Finally, the dark, angry look on The Sam's face melted. "What do you need help with, other than getting head wounds?" She grabbed The Danny and pulled it towards her light. "Let me see that."

"It's fine. Just a scratch."

"Yes," she murmured, pulling its hand away from its head. More of the red fluid leaked out, so The Danny put his hand back. "It'll need a bandage. Stay here." She left the room, padding down into the dark hallway.

"Don't distract me when I'm talking," The Danny hissed, obviously talking to him.

_I do not like being ignored,_ he replied easily. _Was this not my idea? I did not ask you to take over._

"This was a stupid, crazy idea that I shouldn't have let you talk me into," it said furiously. "I should've known how Sam was going to react."

_What is that red liquid?_

It was still tense and unhappy, but it answered. "Blood."

He was silent a moment, trying to remember where he'd heard of blood before. _Is it bad that you are leaking?_

"Yes," it said sourly.

_But you will stop leaking?_

It rolled its eyes and sank down so its back was against The Sam's bed. "I'll heal. It's just a scratch."

"Who are you talking to?" The Sam said from her place by the door.

"Nobody," The Danny replied, looking away uneasily. "I was… I was just talking to myself."

"Uh-huh," she said, but she didn't look convinced. She walked over, a washrag in one hand and a bandage in the other. "Move your hand." She fussed over its head a moment, wiping at it before setting the bandage on it.

The tan-colored fabric stuck to its skin. Almost unconsciously, he took control of a hand to reach up and brush his fingers against it. There was a sharp pain when he touched it, but the fabric was soft and smooth.

"Thanks," The Danny said as it reclaimed its hand.

Silence fell over the room as The Sam stared down at it. "What do you so desperately need my help for that you woke me up in the middle of the night?"

_She was already awake._

The human parroted him without thought. "You were already awake."

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you want my help?"

The Danny nodded.

She stuck a finger near his nose. "Then you should be nice to me, Mr. Snuck Into my Bedroom at Two in the Morning."

The Danny nodded again. "Yeah, of course Sam," he said.

_We need to go outside so we don't wake the humans up._

It climbed to its feet. "Can we go outside? I don't want to wake up your parents."

She hesitated, but nodded. "Let me grab a jacket. I'll meet you in the backyard. I assume since you snuck in here, you can sneak back out." She turned and walked into her closet, leaving The Danny standing in the room.

The Danny shook its head and walked over to the door. It stood there, staring at the door. "Ghost?" it hissed.

_You wanted to take over,_ he told it, settling back in its mind. _Have fun._

The Danny made a strangling gesture with its hands, then put its hand against the door and focused. It was getting better and better at controlling the energy flowing around it. This time, energy came easily at its command, fluttering uselessly around its body. It didn't know how to get out of phase with the living matter.

Capitulating, he tapped the swirling energy and pushed it in the right direction. A strange tingling feeling swept through the human's body as a grin spread on its face as it stepped through the door.

Invisible – at least most of the time – it crept through the house, only needing the occasional help. By the time it reached the backyard, The Sam was already there, hands in the pockets of her jacket, waiting.

"What took you so long?" she asked when The Danny lost control of its invisibility in surprise.

"How did you get out here so fast?" it asked.

He felt a warm glow in his mind at the slow smirk that spread across her face. The Danny just felt vaguely annoyed.

"That's for me to know and you to find out, ghost-boy. What'cha need?"

_Tell her about the ghost you saw._

The annoyance grew, this time pointed in his direction. No doubt it didn't like being told what to say. "You remember when I got into the accident?"

The Sam arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Are we doing some sort of idiot's memory test?"

The Danny shot her a glare. "And you know how I looked different, just for a few minutes."

She nodded slowly. But when The Danny didn't continue, she said, "And…"

"And…" It trailed off, blinking, and shifting its weight. Suddenly there was a flare of frustrated annoyance from it.

_I though you did not wish my help in this conversation,_ he told it.

It scowled.

"You'd better have woken me up for a better reason that that inane question and to glare at me like this," Sam said grumpily.

"I didn't wake you up," it pointed out moodily. It's mind poked at him.

_You need her help to do it again._

Before The Sam could turn around and stalk away, The Danny spoke up. "I need your help to do it again. I think I can, if I tried."

She hesitated, clearly looking interested. "What can I help you with?"

_Because a human needs to explain it in words you'll understand. I can't. And you're too stupid to figure it out on your own._

The Danny positively bristled. "I just need someone to talk it through with," he said after a moment. "Please?"

Her arms came down from their place across her chest. "Alright. What's this idea, then?"

_You need to call all the energy together and let it take you over. You need to give in._ The Danny wouldn't, not without talking the idea through with someone it trusted.

It chewed on its lip, then shook its head. "I think I have to… just… give in."

"To what?" The Sam asked.

Nervous energy flared in the human mind. It started to pace. "The ghost energy."

"That's bad?"

The Danny shrugged, and looked up at the moon. "I… I just… It's not _normal_, Sam. Normal humans don't have ghost powers!"

"True," she said slowly. "But when you ever been normal?"

It shot her a frustrated look. "That's all I wanted, you know. To be normal."

She snickered and leaned her shoulder against a nearby tree. "Yeah, you lost the 'normal' race when you were born to a family of ghost hunters. Give it up, Danny-boy." She smirked, but softened the look with a sigh. "It's more than that, isn't it?"

The Danny shrugged again, staring back up at the stars. "I don't want to be a… _ghost_."

"You're not. You're still human."

One of the groups of stars it was staring at, Cassiopeia, seemed to glitter down at it. The story behind the constellation fluttered through his mind, making him scowl and push it back away.

"What if it's… this ghost energy… it's contaminating me in some way? What if it's making me something less human?"

It paused in its struggle against the memory, staring at the human mind. He'd been thinking something similar (if exactly opposite) not that long ago.

"Well." There was the soft feel of The Sam's fingers touching its arm. "You know that Tucker and I aren't going to let you get too ghosty. And you're too normal to be that weird."

The Danny finally looked back at her. "I like flying," it admitted.

"I would too," she shot back.

"And I kinda enjoyed being invisible."

"I can see the positives of that," she admitted. "But that's just… normal, Danny. It's human to like to get to do things like that."

Some of the nervousness had worn off. "And you'll let me know if I get too weird?" it asked. "You and Tucker?"

_Or just her_, he had to add, which caused the human's mind to jab at him..

"Yeah, of course. We're your friends." She took a few steps back. "Now, it's two in the morning as we both have school tomorrow. Do this thing."

It still felt nervous and scared. It bounced on its toes and closed its eyes, but it didn't reach for the energy inside of it. It seemed to be waiting. Still debating what it wanted to do.

_I fear the same thing,_ he told it quietly. _I fear that your human mind is contaminating me. I have begun to enjoy feeling things and touching things and seeing things. I have even started to not mind other humans being around._

It paused, clearly listening.

He sighed, poking at the human mind. _I fear that one day I will get the chance to be free, and I will no longer want it. I worry that the more time I spend as a human, the less time I will wish to spend as a ghost. There are many new things that you have brought to my existence that I do not understand._

Its shoulders relaxed slightly.

_There are many things about this world and the future that I do not know. I am not a master of time. But I do know that you are human. A short period of time in a ghost form would not change that._

It poked him, curious.

_Can you not tell the difference between us? Now do as the human female requests. Let go. Relax. _

It did. It pulled energy out the world and, for once, didn't fight it or try to control it. Energy curled around and through The Danny's body in a cascade of power. He felt it shudder and draw back.

_No. Let go._

It let out a long breath, its shoulders relaxing the rest of the way. Energy surged. And then the world felt like it tipped on its head. There was an almost painful wave of tingling energy that raced from its toes to its fingers. It gasped and collapsed backwards onto the ground.

It was still breathing, but there was something… odd. All of the feeling had seemed to drain from the world. Emotion wasn't nearly as strong. The slightly chill breeze had vanished.

It was almost like being home. Only, it wasn't.

"Wow," came The Sam's quiet voice.

Slowly it opened its eyes. The world was much brighter and more detailed than before. It sat up, staring down at its hands. They were covered in strange-looking gloves that had a supernatural glow, and were translucent. Shadows and bits of twigs were visible through its arms and hands. The hairs that dangled in front of its eyes were white.

"Wow," The Danny repeated, flipping its hands over and over.

The Sam crouched down in front of The Danny, reached out, and touched its hand. The sensation of touch was dim and weak. "You're really cold," she whispered.

It shivered. "I'm not sure I like this," it muttered. It pulled away from Sam's touch and clenched its fist a few times. It could barely feel its fingers press against its palm. "Is this what being a ghost feels like?"

_Let me take over._

"What can you do?" The Sam asked.

It looked up at her.

She shivered slightly. "Woah, your eyes are the strangest color."

_Please, Danny._

It flexed its fingers a few more times, then nodded faintly. He felt the human mind step aside and grabbed hold of the body.

He'd never had a body as a ghost. The little bit of energy he'd controlled had been too piddling to allow for a real form. Here he was, doing something he couldn't even have imagined. A smile flickered across his face.

"You okay?" The Sam asked.

"Yeah," he answered, then he pushed into the air. It took the smallest amount of thought – so much easier than when he'd been lugging the fleshy human body around. "Awesome."

_What are you doing?_

"I'm going to go fly," he told The Sam.

She smiled back. "Can I go back to bed?"

"I guess," he said with a shrug. "Want a lift?"

_No. Don't pick her up._

"A lift?" She arched an eyebrow, the little smile not leaving her face. "You couldn't fly well enough to keep yourself from face-planting off the rock last time we tried."

He flipped around so that he was lying behind her, head height, almost like he was relaxing on the ground. "I think I can handle it."

She stared straight into his eyes. "Cocky much?"

"I've been practicing," he said, rolling onto his back so that she seemed to be upside down. "See?"

"Alright," she said slowly. "You promise not to drop me-"

_No, Ghost, leave her alone-_

He swept forwards, grabbed her at the armpits, and swooped up towards the treetops. He heard her gasp, startled, and felt her reach for his hands. "I won't drop you," he told her. If he could lug around The Danny's heavy human form, he could easily carry The Sam. Keeping the barrel rolls to a minimum, he slipped over to her open bedroom window and carefully set her down on the ledge.

_I can't believe you just did that! _The human mind quietly ranted in the background of his thoughts.

"Wow," she said again, turning around and gazing at him. "Yeah, I'd say you've been practicing." She sounded a little out of breath. "Don't stay out too late, Danny."

He sketched a little mocking bow in the air. "Yes, ma'am."

She took a tiny step forwards, toes on the very edge of the ledge, reaching out to grab onto his arm. She yanked him a little closer. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared into her eyes. She narrowed her eyes very slightly. "Don't sneak into my room without permission. _Ever. Again._"

He floated backwards, startled by the anger in her voice. "Yeah, I promise."

"See you at school tomorrow, then." Sam let go of his arm, turned around, and headed back towards her bed.

He hung in the air outside her room a second before shaking his head and twisting around and heading up towards the moon.

_I can't believe you did that!_ the human mind said again, this time accompanied by a jab.

"Did what?" He twisted effortlessly in the air, so much lighter and weightless than he'd ever been before.

_You… you… you gave her a ride back to her room._

"So?" He laughed as his body followed every command and thought without the smallest hesitation. "This body is so much better than your human one, Danny." However, the sensation of speed was missing. As was the heart racing, and the flushed feeling of a successful flying maneuver. He frowned slightly.

_I completely disagree,_ it said furiously. _And you were flirting with Sam!_

He wrinkled his forehead. "What is flirting?"

_I… you… but… Really? You don't know what flirting is?_

He sighed and headed towards the human's home. "Is it a human emotion? I have informed you that-"

_You like her._

"I have already told you that Sam is one of the few humans I find pleasant enough to be around. The rest are disgusting things." He broke into a dive when the roof of the Fenton's odd-shaped home back into view. With ghost eyes, he could see much farther and better in the night.

_No. Yes. But you can't like her, Ghost!_

He shook his head, slowing down and angling himself to land gracefully on the roof. "Why can't I? You are not my master." His feet carefully touched down. He could barely feel the roof under his feet.

_She's my friend!_

"Can she not be my friend as well? We are trapped in the same form."

_She doesn't know you exist. She's my friend. You can't like-like my friend._

Letting out a long breath, he sank into a crouch on the roof. "I do not understand what you are complaining about." He started to pull the energy back in towards himself, corralling it deep within his soul, closing his eyes to focus. Almost like he reached the center on a teeter-totter, he felt the world shift around him. In a painful rush, the world slammed back into existence.

Feeling. Seeing. Hearing.

He opened his eyes and peered down at his hands. They were human again. When he brushed his fingers together, he could feel the slightly rough surface of his skin. There was something reassuring about it. "That was not so bad, Danny."

It sounded frustrated and annoyed still. _I'm not just going to drop it because you don't understand. But yes, it was horrible, and we're not doing that again._

He stood up, brushed at his clothes. "Have you forgotten that you were the one that wanted to in the first place?"

It scowled. _ I've changed my mind. We're not ever doing that again._

"Then you have discovered a way to free me?"

It grumbled and tunneled deeper into his mind.

"Thought so," he whispered, pushing himself out of phase long enough to drop through the ceiling and into The Danny's bedroom. He settled down on the bed with a sigh and a glance at the clock. Just before three in the morning. Propping his head on the pillow and crossing his feet, he closed his eyes and let the body relax.


	12. The Octopus

_Sorry for the delay; my computer decided to do an impression of evil!Number5 - bonus points if you get the bad 80's reference. :) Lost some documents (not so much writing, but editing) in the transfer process from my backup drives, so I'm working to get caught up._

_Thanks JoeB, Winged Element, KTrevo, YumeTakato, Guest, Anne Camp aka Obi-Quiet, MsFrizzle, Aurora Warie Williams, Fluffypuppy77, DarkFoxKit, iloveyugiohGX93, TrustyFoxy, nycorrall, and Invader Johnny for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Octopus**

* * *

-Day 27-

Saturday was one of the least boring days of the week, in his opinion. The weekdays were filled with the torture that was _School_ – a mandatory task that even The Danny slept through most of. Sundays were required 'family time.' Saturday, however, was his to what he wanted with.

Or, at least he _would_, if it weren't for the pesky human mind that insisted upon having its own agenda for this particular Saturday and not listening to a single idea he had. Instead of getting to go to the park and enjoy the day, he found himself standing in line for a movie ticket to a something known as 'Dead Teacher Two'.

After two hours of standing still, the line was finally staring to move. A human had appeared in the window ahead and was slowly letting people into the building.

"This is going to be awesome," The Tucker said eagerly, throwing its arm around his shoulders.

He shot it a glance and pulled away. Twenty-seven days in the human world had still not acclimated him to the idea of touching each other. And, to top it off, he'd learned more about the 'viruses' Danny had mentioned. Apparently humans were crawling with little creatures and bugs that could kill them. Many of the pictures on the website had been horribly graphic.

No, humans simply weren't going to touch him anymore. There wasn't much he could do about the things that lived on The Danny – at least, according to the strange computer voice that had read the website's words to him, he was immune to most of those anyways. "If you say so," he told it.

"Don't you remember the original Dead Teacher? That was epic. Changed the future of cinematography forever." It pulled the little PDA out of its pocket to show him the screen. A picture similar to the movie poster over their heads was displayed.

He could not remember, of course, being that he'd never seen a movie before. And he refused to dig around in The Danny's memories to discover what it had been. "Of course," he said blandly.

"You're no fun," it pouted. "I thought you were looking forwards to this."

The human was. It had chattered about it for several days. However, when it came to standing in line for hours to get the tickets, it had decided that was a better job for a ghost to do.

"Oh, come on, Tucker, leave him be," The Sam said. When she set her arm around his shoulders, he hesitated. While he didn't mind this particular human, the pictures on that website were still burned into his memory. Why humans subjected themselves to viruses was beyond him.

Instead of shaking her arm off, he poked at the human mind. It stirred, but didn't wake. "I am excited," he said, attempting to sound somewhat happy about having to spend the afternoon indoors, in a dark room filled with lights and sounds.

"Yeah, I believe that," The Tucker said with an eye roll. "What's up with you today?"

He was going to answer, but a horrible cold feeling swamped him. It slammed into him like claws ramming into his chest, making him shiver and gasp. Little bumps raced up and down his arms.

_What's that, Ghost?_ The human mind was almost instantly awake.

"Danny? What's wrong?" He wasn't sure who said it.

"I am cold," he said, his teeth chattered slightly. He rubbed at his arms. Looking around, he noticed that none of the other human seemed to notice the temperature change at all. He backed up at few steps before looking back at The Sam and The Tucker.

They were both staring at him oddly. "Why?" The Tucker asked.

He thought it was a stupid question and was going to say so, but the human mind reached for control of the body at that point and he gratefully gave way. _I do not like being cold._

"Buy my ticket," The Danny said, backing up a few more steps. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" The Sam called.

After a few steps, he repeated the question. _Where are we going?_

"I'm going to find what's causing this cold. I'm sick of it."

He tensed. _You are sick? _Just the thought of one of those diseases being inside of the human body made him feel disgusting.

The Danny rolled its eyes as it started to track down the source of the cold. It walked up the street, feeling the cold sink deeper into its chest. "I'm not showing you any more websites," it muttered darkly. "And no, I'm not sick." It paused at the intersection of two streets, before taking a guess and going to the left. By this point, its breath was starting to fog the air.

It paused a few buildings down the street. "Look at that," it whispered. It pointed upwards.

Floating in the sky about three stories up was something that glowed an inhuman green. It had several flailing tentacles and a large, bulbous head.

"An octopus?" it asked. It looked around at the other humans on the street. No one seemed to have noticed the floating octopus-thing. When it looked up again, two more had appeared. "Do you know what they are, Ghost?"

_They are ghosts._ He shuddered a little as one of the ghosts seemed to look his way. _Powerful ones, if they can have a form in the human world._

"What do we do?"

_We leave them alone,_ he said frankly. _Ghosts that have forms are things to be left alone. They will destroy you._

The human stood there, shivering, hands in its pockets, simply watching. "So… do you think it's these ghosts causing the cold?"

_It is possible,_ he replied slowly. _Although it is not something I have ever before experienced._

When the ghosts started to drift down the street away from them, The Danny followed.

_Where are you going? We should leave them alone._

"I'll leave 'em alone," it said. "I just wanna see where they're going. Give me a minute." The ghosts started to move faster, and The Danny had to pick up speed to keep them in view. Soon it had gone from a walk to a fast jog, then to an outright sprint. By that point, The Danny had entered the park and was weaving through trees, trying to keep them in view.

_Ghosts can fly far faster than you can run._

"Then take over and fly," it panted.

_I do not wish to catch them. Chasing a ghost that is stronger than you is a plan that could end your existence._ He stayed in the back of its mind. But a small sliver of thought made him add, _You could fly after them, if you wanted._

It stumbled to a stop, chest heaving as it struggled to get enough air into its lungs. "I don't want to fly," it muttered.

_Then you will not catch them._

It stood there, leaning against the tree and gasping for air, before it pushed away from the trunk with a dark, "Fine," and stumbled towards an open area. "How do I do this again, Ghost?"

_Why do you care where they're going so badly?_ He pushed energy towards the human and felt it grab onto it.

"I just do, okay?" it said sharply, closing its eyes and unsteadily levitating into the air.

He pushed it invisible and quietly steadied the worst of the human's wobble. _Stop worrying about falling._

"That's a little hard to do," it hissed, finally opening its eyes and pushing its way through the air. Its flight was slow – perhaps it would have been more likely to catch the ghosts had it ran. "I don't see them."

_The cold is gone as well._

It dropped heavily to the ground, wincing when it landed a bit oddly on one foot. "Well, that was a waste of time."

_We now know the source of the cold._

"True." It limped slightly as it started to head back towards its friends. "I wonder how many ghosts are in Amity Park?"

_Three. Or perhaps more._

It sighed. "That's helpful."

_I fail to see why you think I would have any better information than you on the subject._

"You're the ghost." It paused next to a tree, slowly rolling its foot around in a circle. "I think I twisted my ankle." When it started walking again, it asked, "Where do you think they went, Ghost?"

_Why must you constantly refer to me that way?_

"What?" It stepped out of the park and started back towards the movie theater. "As 'Ghost'? What else am I supposed to call you?"

He hesitated, not even sure why he was complaining. The term had simply started to get on his nerves. _You don't need to refer to me as anything, _he said slowly.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to work. Humans refer to each other all the time."

_I am not human._

"I haven't forgotten," it muttered, looking over its shoulder – no doubt in hopes of seeing the ghost octopuses again. "But I've got to have something to call you. And you refuse to tell me what your name is."

_I do not have a name. Ghosts-_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the human interrupted with a sigh. "You might not have one, but maybe you _need_ one. Ya-know, since you're in the human world."

He was quiet as the human walked to the end of the block and turned down the street. The movie theater was in sight up ahead. _Perhaps you are right._

"Do you want me to pick one for you?"

_No. And I do not appreciate being the one who must wait in line for you at the movie theater._

It winced. "I guess that was a little mean," it conceded. "Just think about it. You could be the first ghost to ever have a name."

He settled back in the human's mind. _Other ghosts have names. But they are all very powerful creatures. Only the most powerful have a name._

"Something new for you to experience then." It hesitated when The Sam came into sight. She was holding tickets. "You're going to stay quiet, then, so I can watch the movie? You're not going to ask a million questions?"

_I will leave you alone. I will not break my end of the deal._

It relaxed a bit, smiling. "Awesome." Then it hurried up the street, wincing each time its foot touched the ground a bit harder than planned, grabbed the ticket, and vanished into the movie theater.

He curled up deep in the human's mind and contemplated what sort of a name he would like.

.

.12.

.

-Day 27-

It sank onto the bed that night, still grinning from the movie. The Sam and The Tucker had been chased home after supper. It's mind poked at him. "That was a great movie."

_So you have said._

"I found the perfect name for you too!

_I do not wish you to pick my name._ He sighed and uncurled. It had been a long time since he'd not taken control of the human body for hours and hours on end. Spending most of the day curled up while the human enjoyed his Saturday had been somewhat tiring. At least he had The Danny's reassurance that he would have the night to enjoy.

"I heard it during the movie-"

_I do not wish to hear of the movie any longer._ He reached for the human body, relieved when the human gave way and the world came into clearer existence. He stretched, unconsciously rubbing his fingers together to feel the slight roughness of his skin. "As Jazz says, it is getting old."

_But you should just hear the name_-

"I have picked a name already," he interrupted. He crawled across the bed to peer out the window. The sun was slowly setting, staining the world interesting shades of purple and red.

_Oh._ It sounded taken-aback. _After all that time telling me you didn't want one, that was fast._

"Only the most powerful have names," he said slowly, "and I am not one of them. But I see your reasoning as to why I should have one while I exist in this world. So I picked one."

_Is it a good one? _It sounded a little skeptical. _Most people don't get to pick their names, you know._

He sighed, leaning forwards a bit to watch a small bird flit from place to place on the tree outside. "I believe I have remembered my real name."

_Really? What is it?_

"I have been having… memories. From when I was alive." He was quiet, resting his elbows on the windowsill. The bird flew off over the top of the house, leaving him with nothing to watch. "I have been remembering my family as well, I think."

_Isn't that good?_

"Perhaps," he whispered. "But it is not normal for a ghost like me to remember things like that."

The human mind was quiet. _That's what you meant, the other day. When you said you were worried about turning human._

"Yes, it is part of the problem." Pushing away from the window, he got up and walked over to the mirror, staring at his reflection. At the black hair and blue eyes. He could almost forget, sometimes, that he didn't really have a form. That he didn't have eyes and fingers, much less black hair and a white shirt. "And I am getting a name."

_You don't have to have a name,_ it said, feeling uncomfortable. _I mean-_

"No, you were correct. I need to be called something other than 'ghost'." He ran a hand through his hair, momentarily distracted by how easily his mind accepted that it was 'his' hair. "It is not your fault."

It winced slightly. _Well, it kinda is…_

He shook his head. "It is not worth arguing about any longer." He blankly stared at his reflection for a long moment.

_So what is your name?_

"I will be called Daniel."

It paused. _That's my name._

"It is also mine," he added. Blue eyes stared back at him. He would be _Daniel_.

_No… you can't have my name. You need to pick your own name._

He arched an eyebrow. "It is my name. I believe there are several Daniels at _School_. It is not an uncommon name."

_True,_ it said, frustrated. _But it was my name first._

"As I was born more than two centuries ago, I beg to differ."

_It's my body!_

He left the mirror, shaking his head, and pushed himself through the wall and into the air. It was more than dark enough to fly without being seen. "You are a jealous, pesky human thing."

_I'm not jealous!_ It sounded furious.

"It is my body. It is my name. It is my friend. You cannot have any of them." He twisted past the tree where the bird had been fluttering and headed up towards the sky. "As you pointed out just a few minutes ago, it is your fault I am here."

It was very quiet. _But…_

When it stopped and didn't continue, he sighed. "It would be silly for me to have a different name than you anyways. You are insisting that we tell no one, so they are going to refer to me as Danny anyways. It would simply be confusing if my name were to be Sally or something."

_Sally is a girl's name._

He let a little grin cross his face. "That is the best argument you can offer?

_It's still my name._

"Danny is your name. My name will be Daniel."

There was a quiet beat. _Daniel's my name too._

He snorted. "You have many names. Now you are just hoarding them."

It was quiet as he flew through the night.

He rolled a few loop-the-loops, raced down to skim over the top of the lake, and then settled onto the top of a tree. It quavered under his weight. "What is the name you thought of while watching the movie?"

He felt it squirm slightly. _I thought it'd be a good name for a ghost. I didn't know you wanted a human name._

"Oh."

_There was one character who died and he came back as a ghost. Everyone called him the Phantom._

He grinned. "So there are a few names that use 'the' before them."

It scowled at him. _That's not what I meant._

"I do not mind the name. However, I believe my name will be Daniel. You may be Danny."

_And you just get to choose. _

"Yes." Throwing himself off a tree to chase a bat that had fluttered by, he grinned. The bat flew wildly left and right and up and down and he followed every movement. When he nearly caught it – would have, if he'd have truly wanted to catch the creature – he pulled up short, laughing. "I am the ghost. You are merely human."

It huffed at him. _Are you ever going to stop thinking about me as an 'it'?_

"When you stop treating me as an 'it', I will stop calling you one."

It poked at him, annoyed.

"Do you wish to try flying tonight?"

The flare of frustration made him laugh.


	13. The Reality

_Thanks to a Mysterious Illusion, nycorrall, BiblioMatsuri, MsFrizzle, JaeB, Invader Johnny, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, A.M. Williams, KTrevo, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews!_

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 13: The Reality**

* * *

-Day 29-

The day had been long and rather challenging, at least in his opinion. Not only did he have to suffer through a few hours of _School_, The Danny hadn't let up on him during his study time until he'd written out the alphabet several times. The bell to signal the time to go home hadn't come quickly enough.

Exhausted from his mental struggles to remember the alphabet squiggles, he relaxed in the back of the human's mind as it walked home with its friends. Although the movie had been several days ago, all three of them continued to talk about it endlessly. He listened, but with a very dim sort of non-interest.

The Tucker suddenly came to a rather abrupt stop in the middle of the sidewalk not far from The Danny's home. The Danny, not paying much attention, ran right into it. "Hey!" The Danny said, pushing itself back up and sending it a glare.

"You got company," it replied, pointing towards the house.

The Danny peered around it, eying the cars lined up along the sidewalk outside their house. "My parents didn't say anything about company…"

The Sam stepped forwards, fingering the backpack thrown over her back. "Do you think we can still come over?"

"They said you could this morning," the human said with a shrug.

"So that means they didn't know people were coming either," The Tucker said with a grin. "Let's sneak in the back and see if we can miss 'em."

"Or Danny could fly us invisibly up to his bedroom," The Sam suggested. The Danny flushed slightly.

The Tucker shot her an annoyed look. "Are you going to explain all these not-at-all-veiled references to invisibility and flight and bedrooms _ever_?"

"Someday," she said pleasantly, touching The Danny on the shoulder as she walked past them and up the sidewalk.

The Tucker turned its annoyed look on The Danny. "Do _you_ know what she's… oh, yeah, you do. I can see the blush."

"Shut it," The Danny muttered, stalking after The Sam.

It caught up to The Sam as she paused in front of the line of cars. "I bet those are government cars," she said. "White, clean, brand new, with sequential license plate numbers," Then she gestured to the other cars a bit further down – larger cars of a different style and pitch black. "And those are from the DALV group."

"How do you know that?" The Danny asked skeptically.

She eyed him. "The large company logo on the side gave it away."

"Well, yeah, obviously," The Danny muttered, flushing and kicking at a rock with its shoe. "Come on."

The other two humans hesitated. "If it's the government in there," The Tucker said doubtfully after a moment, "I don't think we should be sneaking around _them_."

"What's the worse they can do, kick you back out?" Danny shrugged a shoulder. "We got permission. Let's go."

The others followed it into the house. The kitchen was empty of humans. The living room also.

"We're all alone," The Danny said, wrinkling its forehead. "They must be down in the lab. Why don't you guys head upstairs and I'll tell my parents we're here."

"Okay," The Sam said, heading for the stairs. The Tucker followed.

He sat up in the human's mind, poking at it gently. _Why are they afraid of The Government?_

"They're not afraid," it answered quietly. "The government just has lots of rules and things, and some pretty serious punishments if you break their rules."

_They are The Council of this world._

It hesitated before it pushed open the door to the basement. "From what you've told me? Kinda sounds like." It let out a breath and opened the door, sneaking down the steps.

Several men were standing around, staring at The Mom and The Dad's portal. Some were wearing white, others black. "I'm impressed that you got it working," out of the men wearing white said. "And it's stable?"

"Fully," The Dad said proudly. "It just needed ultra-purified ectoplasm, so we needed to build an ectofiltrator-"

"My boss is quite interested in the technology," one of the men in black interrupted. "Is it reproducible?"

The Dad nodded with a wide grin, but The Mom stepped in front of it. "We are still in the beginning stages of testing. Promising anything more than what we already have would be overstepping ourselves." It smiled at the men.

The man in black nodded. "That is understandable. The DALV group is willing to extend the necessary resources to…" it hesitated to glance down at a piece of paper, "Fentonworks… to complete the necessary research and development."

"With proper government regulations in place, of course," one of the white-dressed men cut in.

"Of course," The Mom agreed with a nod. "We have all the proper paperwork filed for an interdimensional portal in a residential section of town."

The white-dressed man didn't smile back. "You would not be here if you didn't." It stepped forwards to examine the glowing ring of green more closely. "The government is also interested in helping to fund any further research in this area. I'm sure we would be willing to match any donation made by the DALV group."

"That's very generous," The Maddie said, "but we're not looking for any grants at this time-" It broke off when it looked up and saw The Danny sitting at the top of the steps. "If you'll excuse me for just one moment…" It shot The Dad a look. "Jack, why don't you show them your Thermos concept?"

As The Dad grabbed a strange-looking cylinder filled with wires and switches, The Mom walked up the steps. "Hey, Mom," The Danny said.

"Did you have a good day at school?" it asked, sitting down on the stairs as well.

"Yeah," The Danny answered with a shrug. "Is it still okay that Sam and Tucker came over to work on our project?"

It nodded. "These men should be leaving soon. Just stay upstairs until they're gone. I'll bring you three a snack in a bit."

"Gonna try to sell your portal?"

"Not yet," The Mom said. "We're still learning a lot from it." It stood up and started to walk back down the stairs. "I'll see you in a little bit, okay?"

"Yeah." The Danny watched a second longer, then turned around and headed back up into the kitchen.

_They will sell the portal soon?_ He felt a flare of anxiousness at that.

The Danny shrugged. "Why do you care? It's just a glowing light in the basement."

_It is what brought me here. It is my only way home._

The Danny stopped. "Oh," it breathed, "I didn't think… Yeah."

He curled up inside the human's mind. _It is probably what joined us together. It may be the only thing that can separate us._

It looked over its shoulder at the door leading down to the basement. "We'll get it figured out. You heard my mom, she's not planning on selling it soon."

_I wanted to be free…_

"I know," The Danny said, slowly making its way upstairs and to its friends. "I just wish I knew how."

He curled up and ignored the human for most of the rest of the night. It wasn't until it was fast asleep that he uncurled and went flying through the crisp fall night. There was a definite bite of cold to the air as he flew up as high as he could.

As he hung there, feeling his heart beat in his chest, seeing the vast night sky, hearing the cold wind whistle in his ears, smelling the encroaching rain clouds… he couldn't decide if he'd be able to give this up. Could he really go back to the existence he'd lead before, after experiencing all this?

.

.13.

.

-Day 32-

"We're meeting Tucker at the Nasty Burger in just a few minutes," The Danny said, racing around its room for clothes.

_Do we not have School today?_ he asked, not really caring.

"Teacher workshop day," it answered vaguely. "But I'll need you to fly us there."

_Then we should wear the white shirt._

It stopped. "You made me wear that shirt four times last week and already twice this week, and it's only Thursday!"

_I like that shirt. It has a nice red symbol._ He poked at the human mind.

"It's just a stupid red dot, and I'm not wearing the same shirt that many times. Find another shirt you like," it hissed.

_I do not really feel like flying…_ He stretched, then started to curl up.

"Fine," it said furiously, grabbing the shirt out of its laundry basket. "You'll fly us if I wear the stupid shirt?"

He frowned. _It is not a stupid shirt._

It pulled the shirt over its head and stuffed its feet into shoes. "Whatever. Flight?"

_I suppose. You could fly us – you are getting better._

The human had started to make an actual attempt at learning to fly recently. It was turning into a decent flyer. For a human. It would never be able to match his grace or speed, of course.

"I'm wearing this shirt so _you'll_ fly us." It looked around the room, running a hand through its messy hair. "Do I have everything?"

_I am sure you are missing something,_ he told it helpfully.

It scowled darkly and closed its eyes in response.

He felt its mind shift and pull away from the human body. He reached forwards and took control rolling his shoulders and rubbing his fingers together before opening his eyes. "We are ready to go?"

_As far as I know,_ it said. _Think you can get there in less than two minutes?_

Taking the comment as the challenge the human meant it to be, he vanished from the room. Between his three skills – invisibility, phasing, and flight – he could get anywhere. He swirled down the streets, not even bothering to miss the streetlights, and found himself hovering before the Nasty Burger sign. It glowed a horrible, strange red color.

"Was that less than two minutes?" he asked, still not sure about his sense of time.

_Felt like it,_ it answered. _You gonna land?_

He dropped lightly to the ground before coming back into view. He walked into the Nasty Burger and looked around for The Tucker. He found the human sitting alone at a small table in the corner. "Where is Sam?"

The human mind was quiet for a long beat. _She's not coming today._

He crossed his arms. "I do not like Tucker."

_I know, but he's my friend. I'm going to spend the day with him. You don't have to pay any attention._

His eyes narrowed. "Some day I will spend time with a friend you do not like. And then you will have to put up with it as well."

_You have friends?_

He pushed at the human mind, forcing it back in control of the human body. _I do not wish to smell the disgusting food at this place. And I do not wish to discuss my friends – past or future._

"Sorry," it muttered, starting to weave its way through the tables. It waved at The Tucker. "It's just one day."

He sighed and curled up in a tight little ball. _Famous last words, Danny._

_._

.13.

_._

-Day 32-

A ghost startled him out of the blankness he'd wrapped himself up in, waiting for the horrible day spent with The Tucker to be over. Not only had The Danny insisted upon spending the day with the human, it also had planned to spend the day at the arcade. Fortunately – at least in his mind – the arrival of the cold ruined its plans.

"What's wrong?" The Tucker asked.

The Danny shivered and tried to ignore it. "I'm cold," it answered shortly. "You gonna play or what?"

"You're not just cold," The Tucker muttered, grabbing The Danny's arm curiously. "You're freezing. And I can see your breath in the air."

It shivered some more, wrapping its arms around itself. "When there's ghosts around, I get cold," it admitted. "It'll go away. Let's just play."

"There's a ghost around?" The Tucker perked up, looking around the arcade. "Where?"

The Danny gestured towards the back of the store. That was where the cold seemed to be coming from. "Who cares? It's just a ghost."

_I care. We should be leaving._ He poked at the human mind roughly, desperately trying to broadcast his fear and apprehension about meeting another ghost in the human world.

The Danny shook its head in response as a sharp shudder ran through its body.

"Yeah, but I've never actually _seen_ a ghost," The Tucker said eagerly. "Can you show me where it is? Just this once?" It was peering at the back of the arcade, obviously trying to see past the counter and into the staff space in the rear.

_It is suicidal._

"He's not an 'it'," The Danny said, frustrated.

"What?" The Tucker asked, turning around to glance at it.

With a wave of its hand, The Danny gave in and headed towards the back of the store. "Fine. We'll go see the ghost. I don't see why you're so interested."

_For once, you and I agree. We should be leaving._

"Why aren't you _more_ interested?" The Tucker asked quietly as they snuck around the unmanned counter and into the back room. "You're part ghost, kind of, anyways, with your ghost powers, and your parents are ghost scientists, and-"

"Quiet."

It didn't listen. "Come on, nobody's ever been able to prove the existence of ghosts," he whispered. "You'd be seriously famous. Not to mention…" The Tucker crept forwards, looking around the small – and empty – room. "Where is the ghost?"

_It is past the back wall. Perhaps it is outside._ He winced when the human looked towards the back wall, obviously thinking that through.

The Danny chewed its lip quietly a moment. Then it glanced at The Tucker. "Oh, what the hell, my day's shot anyways," it muttered to itself. Walking over to Tucker, it pushed the human towards the back wall. "It's out back. Let's go find it."

_No, Danny. Please don't!_

"Don't need your permission, Ghost," it breathed as it closed its eyes, pulled energy up into its mind, and then phased both itself and The Tucker through the wall.

_It is dangerous,_ he begged. _Please go back inside._

"Woah," The Tucker said, feeling its arms and legs quickly as it stumbled to a stop in the alley behind the house. "You pushed me right through the wall!"

The Danny turned to grin at it, but stopped when something caught its gaze. A flicker of inhuman green. It looked up, spotting a large, glowing octopus hanging around the second floor windows. "There it is," it whispered, just loud enough for the other human to hear as well.

The Tucker looked up. Its eyes widened. "Cool."

_Run._ He stared at up at the ghostly octopus in pure dread. _Please run. _He reached to grab onto the human's body and _make_ it run just as the ghost's eye swung around to fixate on him. A huge beak appeared amongst the weaving tentacles, and it cracked loudly as the creature opened and closed it. He froze. _We are going to be eaten._

"Can it hurt us?" The Tucker asked.

"I don't think so," The Danny replied slowly, but it backed up a few steps. "It's a ghost. It's not on the same plane of existence as us-"

One of the ghost's huge tentacles whipped around and smashed into a garbage can, sending it sailing over their heads. Both The Danny and The Tucker ducked, startled.

The Tucker licked its lips. "Aren't those garbage cans on our plane of existence?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I think we should run," The Danny breathed, but it didn't move.

"Back up," The Tucker said with a desperate edge to his voice. It grabbed onto the back of The Danny's shirt and started to two it backwards. "Come on…"

A strange, eerie sound broke through the afternoon sunshine. Although the noise came from the ghost, it seemed to echo everywhere. Both humans shuddered and took off towards the light at the end of the alley.

_Let me take over. Let me get us away from it!_

The Danny didn't seem to be listening to him. It scrambled over the forgotten stuff in the alleyway, shoes loud on the cement as it chased after its friend. The Tucker was slightly faster.

_DANNY!_ He shouted, desperate to get its attention. He felt its mind shift, ever so slightly. _It can fly much faster than you can run. We must fly._

"Take over," it panted, tossing a glance over its shoulder. The octopus was chasing them – and closing in fast. "Grab Tucker and lets get out of here."

_I can't carry both of you._

"You did Sam!" it said, stumbling over a bit of trash and nearly falling to the ground. A green tentacle whipped near its head.

_You weren't a human. Danny-_

"Tucker!" it yelled. "Keep running!"

The other human glanced over its shoulder, skidding to a halt. "DANNY!"

The Danny clamped its eyes shut and sank to its knees. It reached deep inside and yanked power and energy through its body. Green exploded inside its mind. "Ghost," it whispered, wincing at the sound of something slamming into the ground next to him. "Ghost."

He could _feel_ the ghost hovering over them. Something terribly cold dripped onto The Danny's head. _Danny-_

Its fingers clenched in the ground, a tremble ran through its body, and all that energy was released in a swirl of power. _"Going ghost!"_ the human screamed.

The world vanished in a wash of green and white. A bland emptiness was left in its place. The cement was distant and hard under its knees and hands. The fear abated to something far away – like a bird fluttering in a cage. When it opened its eyes, the world had jumped into sharp relief. Too bright.

It glanced up at the ghost octopus, which had paused and was watching The Danny carefully. "Ghost…"

He felt it step back in its mind. He reached forwards, took control of the body, and found himself being the one to stare up at the ghost. He couldn't even imagine the amount of raw power this thing must have: to not only have a form in the human world, but to have it solid enough to interact with human objects. And he - a tiny little scrap of a ghost not enough powerful enough to have a form in the world of the dead, a little shadow that had no bigger dreams than to not be eaten or, if being eaten was his destiny, than to at least be eaten by something impressive – was staring straight at it. "I'm going to get eaten," he muttered, feeling his knees going weak.

_FLY!_ the human mind screamed.

The world jolted at that word, sending him stumbling backwards a step. A huge green tentacle slammed into the ground next to him, sending little splatters of greenish goo everywhere. "Shit!" he yelped as he twisted around, already in the air, and raced towards the entrance of the alley.

His fingers locked around The Tucker's arms he passed, wrenching it from the ground as it raced forwards. A flicker of his mind sent them invisible as he started to fly down the street, then up into the air, shooting glances over his shoulder.

The octopus didn't leave the alley. The cold had faded away.

He dropped The Tucker onto the roof of a nearby building, slowly becoming visible as he hovered near the human. "It is gone," he whispered.

The human mind was still shaking. _That was close._

"Holy shit," The Tucker whispered, taking a few steps backwards. "What happened to you?"

He glanced towards it. It was staring at him with a wild expression. He scowled. He didn't have time to deal with the annoying human. "Where did it go?"

"_Danny?_"

He dropped to the roof and shot a look towards the human. "Yes," he told it.

"But, but, when…?" The look on The Tucker's face slowly changed from fear to understanding. "Sam."

He sighed and walked over to the edge of the roof, glancing around for the ghost. His heart was still racing in his chest. "Where is it?"

"You and Sam figured out how to turn you into a ghost and you didn't tell me?" The Tucker asked incredulously.

The human mind chuckled softly at that. The worst of its fear had faded and it poked at his mind. _The ghost is gone. Relax a little._

"That is the second time we have run into this ghost," he muttered, still gazing over the edge. "It is following us."

"Danny," The Tucker said.

Something touched his shoulder. It was a distant sensation that made him glance up, startled. The human was standing there, grabbing his shoulder. He shrugged the hand off. "What?"

"Relax. How are we going to get off the roof?"

He wasn't sure what was wrong with human brains, but how could anyone could laugh off the appearance of a ghost that powerful? All the human wanted to focus on was his appearance and how to get off the roof. He stared at it incredulously. "We just got chased by a very powerful ghost," he said slowly.

"And it's gone now," The Tucker answered. "You'll know when it comes back, right? The cold thing?"

"Well…" He looked around, then poked at the human mind for some help. Yes, the ghost was gone, but didn't humans remain cautious for awhile afterwards, in case it came back?

_You're going to have to fly him back down._

Apparently that wasn't the case. The humans simply got over it and went about their lives. Perhaps that made sense – humans lived very short existences. But still. He eyed The Tucker. Perhaps he could teach it something.

_What are you doing?_

The Tucker was leaning over the edge, no doubt trying to find its way down. He walked up behind it.

The Danny caught onto his plan just as he stepped up behind the human. _Stop!_

He grabbed the human's waist and tossed him over the edge. He saw a flash of surprised eyes and a cut-off yelp of fear as the human tumbled into the air.

The Danny's mind barely had time to register what had happened before he jumped up onto the ledge and dove over, following The Tucker's body towards the ground. He caught it before it had passed the highest row of windows, latching onto its arms and turning the fall into a glide.

"Don't do that!" The Tucker yelled. He could feel its heart racing.

The human mind was saying something very similar. It ranted and raved as he flew both himself and The Tucker to the park, not stopping until The Tucker's feet were planted, somewhat firmly, on the ground.

"Ghosts are not games," he told The Tucker – and the human mind – sharply. "That thing could have easily killed you."

"You didn't have to push me off the roof!" The Tucker snapped, brushed at its shirt.

"At least I'll catch you," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "I highly doubt the ghost would have."

It hesitated, glancing at him. One of its eyebrows ticked upwards in acknowledgement.

_Don't push my friends off the roof again,_ it said. It still sounded angry.

"I am making a point," he said, releasing the energy that was surrounding him. It raced out of him in a wash of green and white, returning the heavy, fleshy feel of his human form. Without another thought, he pushed the human mind back into control of the body and burrowed down into the darkness to wait out the rest of the day.


	14. The Hero

_This marks the last chapter of the 50,000-word original story. However, there will be more of this universe coming! I'm in the process of creating something more for your enjoyment. I don't know how long it will take... but it is coming._

_Thanks to everyone who's been following along with this story. It's lots of fun. :) But especially thanks to Verdantia, MsFrizzle, KTrevo, YumeTakato, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, nycorrall, JaeB, DB-KT, a Mysterious Illusion, Aurora Marie Williams, Invader Johnny, and iloveyugiohGX93 for their reviews of the last chapter._

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from the very beginning._

_…and from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Hero**

* * *

-Day 33-

At some point, the human mind started to poke at him. The poking turned into jabbing after a bit. Finally he uncurled and jabbed back. _What?_

"I need to talk to you."

The Danny was alone in its room, sitting at the computer. The screen was dark. Outside the window, the sun was starting to rise. _About The Tucker again?_

"No." It twirled the chair from side to side. "Although maybe you were right, you know. We should've taken the ghost more seriously. But that's not it."

_Maybe I was right._ He relaxed. _And maybe you would have died had I not intervened. Maybe you would have gotten your human friend killed. Maybe I would be in my home tonight, with two pesky newly-dead accomplices to bother me for the rest of time._

It winced. "I get it."

He was quiet for a few moments, waiting for the human to talk. It didn't. _I do not appreciate you continuing to call me 'Ghost'. I have informed you of my name._

It winced again. "Yeah, Daniel. I remember."

_Why do you not call me by my name, after all the time you spent convincing me I required one?_

"I forgot, okay? I was being chased by a ghost-"

_On many occasions over the past several days, you have called me 'Ghost'. You have never once used my name. Even in the quiet of your own home._

It moved its mouth a little.

_I think it is because you do not view me as a creature deserving of a name. I am simply the voice in your head that you use to get out of doing the things you do not want to do._

"That's not true," it protested, but it wasn't very powerful a protest.

_As I have said in the past: I am not your pet. I have deigned to call you by your name. I have accepted that you are the one who understands this world we are in, and I will abide by many of your choices. But I am not your pet, to put in a cage and take out only when you wish to play with me._

"You still think of me as an 'it'," it muttered defensively.

_I have always considered the creatures around me as thus. _

"Sam's not an 'it'."

He sighed, dismissing the thought. _I do not wish an existence where I am trapped in a form that does not view me as an equal. I have thought about it, Danny. Although there are many things in this world that intrigue me and there are many things I wish to experience, I do not wish to exist as a lesser being._

It twirled on its chair, swiveling around in circles. He could feel the human's guilt. "That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about," it said.

_About what?_

"I…" it trailed off, spinning a few more times in nervous energy. "I think we should tell my parents about you. You know. And see if they can free you."

_I thought you had many reasons as to why such an arrangement was impossible._

It shrugged. "I can't think of anything better. And you're right. I shouldn't keep you trapped in my head."

He hesitated, surprised. He hadn't thought the human would agree with him, much less have come up with a solution. _When are you thinking of going through with this plan?_

It shrugged again. "Now?"

He was startled by the quick answer. It was slightly depressing – that he would not get to see another night spent flying through the stars, really being able to feel the speed and height and tumbling acrobatics. But he had waited a month to be free of this. _Very well._

The human pushed out of its chair and walked towards the basement lab with a slow, resigned step. It had the general feeling of walking to a funeral.

_You do not wish this,_ he said.

"No, but I can't keep you trapped in my head forever," it muttered, walking down the stairs to the first floor.

That's when the cold struck again. The Danny shivered and rubbed at its arms.

_It is following us!_

"Why? What's it want with us?" Its teeth were starting to chatter, its breath fogging in the air.

_I do not know. We should leave._

"But my parents…" It stood on the stairs, indecisive. "I need to warn them."

_I-_ Memories suddenly cascaded through his mind. Birthdays, holidays, cooking classes, hugs, reading stories at night… it was a bombardment of feeling and emotion. He hissed and pushed at them, only barely stemming the tide. They were the human's memories. It was worried about its parents. _Fine. _

It let out a short breath and hopped down the rest of the stairs. "Mom? Dad?" it called, running through the living room. It skidded to a stop in the kitchen, eyes widening.

One of the ghost octopuses was floating there, its body half through the wall, several tentacles picking through the objects in the kitchen. The refrigerator was overturned. Cupboards had been emptied. But the door to the basement lab was still firmly shut.

It didn't seem to notice the human at first. Not, at least, until The Danny started to wave its arms. "Hey, ghost!"

The ghost turned its huge, dinner plate sized eye towards the human.

_What are you doing? Are you insane? Did this thing not just try to kill us yesterday?_

Not listening to him, the human ducked forwards under one of the tentacles and grabbed a knife that was sitting on a nearby kitchen counter. When the waving green appendage came back, it slammed the knife straight into it. Freezing cold green plasma squirted from the wound. A small picture clutched in one of its tentacles dropped to the ground.

The octopus howled – the windows rattled.

_We need to run!_

"Obviously," the human shot back, racing through the living room and out the front door. The concrete was warm on its bare feet. "But now it'll leave my parents alone."

_You have a death wish!_

It looked back over its shoulder, spotting the octopus appear through the wall of its home. The thing narrowed its eye, clacked its beak, and shot after The Danny.

"We need to fly."

_You got it chasing us. You fly_! he shot back, although fear made him want to take over the human's body and just do it himself.

"Crap," it hissed, stumbling slightly in the early morning shadows, but then managed to throw itself into the air. It wasn't nearly as fast as he could fly, and not nearly as nimble – but it felt like it was enough to keep ahead of the octopus.

It glanced over its shoulder. The octopus was still following. It howled again, that same eerie noise as before. The human shivered and turned back to the front.

And stopped dead.

Both the other octopuses were hanging in the air in front of it. "Triple crap," it whispered as the octopuses surrounded it. The wounded octopus slowly oozed plasma onto the ground, where it hissed and evaporated in a greenish mist. "Got any ideas?"

_I will fly. Can you lose the heavy form?_

The Danny swallowed heavily, glancing around before closing its eyes. "Ghost," it whispered, reaching for the energy inside of itself. It rose and surrounded it, swallowing its mind in a roar of green and white. "Going ghost."

The human quickly gave way, letting him control the now feather-light ghost form. He opened his eyes, shot a look at the octopuses, and then shot straight up. He glanced back in time to see the octopuses tangle their tentacles, then focused on speed.

They chased him upwards, faster and faster, weaving and bobbing in and out. The octopuses together were nearly as fast as he was. He had very nearly reached the clouds and their tentacles were still brushing past his feet.

"I cannot out run them," he panted. A glance back told him that the octopuses were using each other as climbing ladders to keep up. He scowled at them. "We need a new plan."

_We'll have to fight them._

"No!" He shook his head, white hair whipping into his eyes and causing momentary tears. "Not a chance."

_We were talking about it in biology. There's two choices: fight or flight. If flight's not going to work…_

He glanced back again, frustrated and scared and quickly tiring from the furious pace the ghosts were setting. "We will be destroyed."

_Haven't you ever fought a ghost before?_ The human mind was just as scared, but it also felt like there was an iron core inside of its mind that refused to bend under the intense pressure of the ghosts.

"No. I am not a powerful enough ghost to fight."

_I'm not going to die._ It felt like it was curling its fists.

"Then you fight them," he panted as he twisted into a dive, just barely missing their grasping, looping tentacles.

_I don't-_

He _pushed_ against the human mind, forcing it back in control. It faltered at the sudden switch, the dive momentarily turning into a fall. "-want to!" It fell more than thirty feet, the ghost octopuses catching onto the change in direction and turning to follow before its fall was brought back under control.

_What is your plan?_

"I don't have one!" it shouted. It twisted out of the way of one tentacle, but got another wrapped around its foot. Its dive came to a sudden, abrupt halt. "Ow!"

The octopus dragged it upwards. The giant beak clacked near its head. Its huge eye peered at The Danny, who could see its own white hair and green eyes reflecting back at it in the huge pupil.

More on frightened instinct that any real thought, The Danny lashed out with its free foot and caught the octopus in its eye. It instantly let go.

The Danny fell again, free, and looked up at the ghosts. The one was howling in pain, rubbing at its eye. "That worked!" The Danny said. Its voice broke slightly.

_Yes, but the other two are still following._

It bit its lip, breaking out of the dive. "Their eyes are the weak spots. I just gotta get them in their eyes."

_You're going to attack them? Are you insane?_

"They've been following us," it said as it skittered to the right to avoid a huge tentacle. "I don't think they'll leave us alone if we just ask."

The next tentacle didn't miss. It managed to catch both of The Danny's feet, dragging it up to dangle upside down, hundreds of feet above the ground. This octopus, however, kept The Danny far enough away from its eye that even the human's wild swings with its hands didn't come close. The ghost's beak clacked loudly, catching some of The Danny's hair with a painful tug.

"Let me go!" The Danny screamed. It reached up and started to tear at the thick tentacle that had attached itself to its feet. In a break of good luck, this octopus was the one that had had the run-in with the knife earlier. And this tentacle was the same one. The Danny reached up and clawed at the wound. The plasma stung its fingers.

The octopus screeched and howled and let go. The Danny caught itself within just a few feet, twirled, and slammed a fist directly into the thrashing octopus's eye. The howl kicked up a notch and it retreated, rubbing and twisting in on itself.

The other two octopuses stayed back a good distance, seeming to be guarding the wounded one. The eyes blinked at The Danny. Then they drifted away.

"And stay away!" The Danny screamed after them. It floated in the cool morning air, watching until the octopuses were out of sight. It was breathing hard as it started to slowly sink to the ground.

He was shuddering inside the human's mind, still reeling from the encounter. _I cannot believe we survived that._

The Danny ran a shaking hand through its hair. When its feet touched the ground, its legs weren't strong enough to support it. It collapsed to lie on its back, staring up at the slowly brightening sky. "I don't want to do that again," it whispered.

_Do you think they will stay away?_

"I hope so."

After a few long minutes, it rolled to its feet. With a swirl of white and green, the ghost form dissipated and, very suddenly, all the aches and pains it hadn't noticed as a ghost made themselves very known. It hissed, sitting back down, and pulled up the leg of its pants. Thick rings of tentacle marks – neat little circles – were cut into its skin. "Ow." Then it examined its hands. The fingers that had dug into the cut on the octopus's tentacle were red and covered in small blisters.

_Perhaps we should fly home. It is many blocks away._

"Yeah," it said softly, pulling the leg of its pants back down. "Why didn't it hurt very much when…?"

_Ghosts do not feel the same way humans do. We do not experience pain, or touch, or the sensation of being damaged like you experience._

"The octopus felt it when I kicked him."

He pushed slightly, taking control of the human body. The pain in his leg grew and he wrinkled his nose. "Not in the same way." He pushed himself gently into the air, swirling invisible to keep from being seen. "It was not necessarily in pain. It was simply irritated. You disrupted its functions."

The human seemed to think about that. _I made it mad._

"In essence." He made it above the tops of the buildings before heading towards the human's home. "When you hit its eye, it did not feel pain. It could not see. It felt the kick. It knew it could not see."

_What about the other one? The one I got with the knife?_

He could see the home in the distance. He made a beeline for it. "You made it lose part of itself. Part of the energy that allows it to exist. While it did not feel real pain from the knife, it felt… loss. Tired. Exhaustion. You were draining it of its ability to remain in a stable form." He shook his head. "So yes, on some level, it likely felt something akin to pain."

_So if I just made it mad, it'll come back._

"Potentially." He dove through the air, phased through the wall of the human's home, and dropped onto the bed. He winced when his damaged leg touched the bed. "Now what?"

_We gotta go clean up the kitchen,_ The Danny muttered. _If my parents see that, they'll freak._ It pushed against him, taking back over. "Ow…"

_Can you not just tell them a ghost did it?_

"Yeah, they'll believe that," it muttered. It limped out of its room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen to survey the damage. Almost the entire contents of the kitchen was scattered across the floor. "Yeah, there's no way they're not going to notice this."

_I am surprised they did not hear it when it happened._

It sighed and started working its way into the room, scooping up things and stuffing them back into cupboards. "Start coming up with a really awesome excuse." It paused when it saw the knife stuck into the countertop. It was sunk at least a half-inch into the thick wood. The blade of the knife was corroded and pitted from the ghost's plasma. "Well, I can't explain that in a million years."

_I would stick with the truth._

The Danny sighed. "You're probably right." It grabbed another armload, stuffed it into a waiting cupboard. On its next pass, however, it paused. Lying on the floor was a small picture, most of it eaten away by the ectoplasm the octopus had leaked.

_The ghost was carrying that,_ he remembered. _Why?_

It reached over and picked it up, flipping it over. The image was mostly destroyed. Just enough remained to make out whom it had been a picture of. "Dad," The Danny whispered.

He was quiet, startled. _Why would a ghost carry a picture of Dad around?_

"They weren't after us," it breathed. Terror raced up through its body as its head swiveled. "Dad was out shopping that day at the movies. And the arcade is by the fudge store." It slowly stood up, the picture falling from numb fingers. "They're not after us. They're after my dad!"

.

.14.

.

-Day 33-

"Daniel James Fenton."

The Danny froze, still standing in the middle of the messy kitchen. The Mom had appeared at the kitchen door, still dressed in pajamas, and had its hands on its hips.

"I can explain," The Danny started, holding up its hands.

"What's wrong with your hand?" The Mom picked its way across the kitchen and carefully snagged The Danny's red, blistered hand. "That looks like that hurts."

He felt The Danny poke at him, desperate for something to say. _Stick with the truth._

"There was a ghost?"

Silence fell over the kitchen. "Danny…" The Mom said. "Let's go get your hand cleaned up."

"It looked like a giant green octopus. It was, like, as big as the RV. Its eye was bigger than my head!" The Danny had started to babble. "I stabbed it with the kitchen knife. " It gestured towards the knife, still stuck into the counter. "And it ran away."

The Mom pressed its lips together. "Let's get hand cleaned up first." It stood up, and towed The Danny up the stairs.

The Danny followed passively, its injured hand firmly within the Mom's grip. "I was trying to clean it up," it said when they reached the bathroom and was released. The Mom pointed quietly towards the edge of the bathtub. "Sorry."

The Mom sighed and pulled out a small kit. It picked through little tubs until it found a white cream and proceeded to smear it all over The Danny's hand. The pain started to fade almost instantly. "Try not to pop the blisters until they heal," it said softly as it wrapped the fingers in a thin layer of gauze. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" The Danny asked, apprehensive.

"Come on," it said again, this time with a twist of its head.

The Danny followed, down the steps, picked its way through the mess of a kitchen, and then into the basement. The Dad was sitting at one of the long tables, working on something that looked like a stick with string. "Mads! Dann-o!" it called with a smile on its face.

The mom sighed. "Jack, were you really up all night?"

It grinned back at her.

With a shake of its head, The Mom asked, "Can you call up the camera feed for the kitchen?"

The Danny froze. "C-camera?" it muttered.

_What is a camera feed? Why are you afraid of it?_ He poked at the human.

The Mom placed a firm hand on The Danny's back and moved it across the room to a computer screen. On it, in black and white, was the image of the destroyed kitchen. "Rewind," The Mom said.

The Dad, who was frowning at The Danny, pushed the buttons on the computer and the image jumped backwards. The Danny appeared, cleaning in reverse, and then vanished again. And then the messy kitchen suddenly cleaned itself.

"Play that," The Mom said, stepping closer.

On the screen, the kitchen was throwing itself into a frenzy. Things were flying out of cupboards. The refrigerator toppled over. But there was nothing on the screen. Then, in the corner, a scared-looking The Danny appeared. After a second, it slipped into the kitchen and rammed a kitchen knife into the counter. The camera shook, like it had been hit by something, and The Danny disappeared back through the door.

"It was a giant green, floating octopus," The Danny said into the silence.

Strangely, both the faces of The Mom and The Dad had broken into smiles. "A ghost!" The Dad cheered happily. "We had a real ghost in our kitchen! Look at all that damage. We should go up and take some readings."

"It's only been twenty minutes. If we hurry we should still be able to get some spectral samples," The Mom added, grabbing a piece of equipment from a rather large, teetering pile. "You okay down here for a bit while we check this out, Sweetie?" It peered at The Danny closely.

The Danny smiled faintly. "Yeah."

A hand abruptly started to ruffle The Danny's hair. "My son, the ghost hunter," The Jack said proudly. "I bet you got that ectopus good."

"Octopus," The Danny corrected, but The Dad was bounding up the stairs. The Mom was only seconds behind it.

The Danny let out a noise and sank onto one of its parents' chairs. "That went well, I guess."

He laughed slightly. _I thought Mom and Dad would be angry with you._

"I guess not." It shrugged, then turned to look at the slowly glowing portal.

Mist curled and swirled inside of it in an eerie, inhuman light. He felt the normal urge to walk up to it, but the heart-wrenching homesickness had faded.

The Danny seemed to be struggling with something. Like it wanted to say something, but it wouldn't. It twisted its lips finally and shook its head. "Gho… Daniel."

_Yes?_

"I know you want to go home. I know I can't keep you trapped here."

He knew the word that came next. _But?_

"But those things are after my dad."

The memories stirred again. Emotion flooded through his mind. He pushed it away. He already knew that the human loved The Dad very much. _How does that involve me?_

It opened its mouth. Closed it again. The opened it. "It… it… it doesn't. I guess. But…"

He poked its mind. _Spit out the thought, human._

It let out a dark snort and crossed its arms over its chest, fixing its gaze on the swirling portal. "I can't imagine my life if he got hurt or killed by one of those things. And I know they're going to come back."

_I do not wish you to lose Dad either._

"I don't think they're going to be able to protect themselves. But I can. Protect them. Because of you."

_Oh._ He thought that through, quiet and unsure of what he thought about that.

"I- I don't want to keep you here. Trapped. That's not what I want. But I don't think I can protect them without your help…" It trailed off, with a desperate little shrug.

He remembered the disappointment he'd felt when the human had agreed to ask its parents to free him. He reached for the human's good hand, gently rubbing the tips of his fingers together. The skin of the fingers was both smooth and rough.

"Can… Would it be possible… Would you…"

_I will stay for a while longer._

He felt the boy sag with relief. "Just until the ghosts are gone. And then, that day-" it started to babble.

_On several conditions._

It froze, but it didn't feel against the idea. "Like…?"

_You will refer to me by my name. _

It nodded, almost instantly.

_And I will not be a pet. I wish to be a partner. An equal. _

It hesitated, but nodded again.

_I realize you have more knowledge of this world. I will defer to your judgment about human matters. However, I wish my voice to be heard as well. I am not here to stand in line for you and exist during the classes you wish to sleep through._

"Yeah. I understand," it whispered.

He nodded and relaxed, allowing the human to close its eyes and smile a little. _In return, I will attempt to refer to you in the pronoun you prefer._

The Danny snorted faintly, its normal pleasant mood returning. "How about losing the 'The' before everyone's name?"

He frowned. _I will try. It is not something that will be easy for me._

"Awesome," it – _he_ whispered, fighting back a yawn. "I just wanna go to bed."

_You did not sleep last night?_

The Danny shook his head, then slowly made his way up the stairs. When he pushed open the door to the kitchen and peered at his parents, the two were taking pictures of nearly everything. "Look at the pattern the flour made when it spilled. Definitely a ghost!" The Dad called, snapping a half-dozen pictures of the spilled flour.

_Did you not spill the flour when you were trying to clean earlier?_

The Danny nodded, a little smile on his face, and crept into the kitchen. "Well, he's only half wrong, I guess," he muttered.

"Sweetie, don't disrupt anything. We haven't finished cataloging," The Mom said. It had changed into a blue jumpsuit. "Especially the flour!"

The Danny carefully walked around the flour, didn't step on the spilled garbage, and then worked his way up to his room. "My parents are insane," he said.

.

14

.

-Day 35-

Two days later – Sunday, exactly five weeks since the accident – Danny was sitting in the basement with Sam and The Tucker. Dad was wandering around in front of the portal, waving its arms. It had already spent almost an hour telling them all about the kitchen ghost. Now, however, it was starting in on something new.

"You and your little friends want to hunt ghosts."

"Um…" Danny muttered, glancing at his friends. "Ac-ac-actually, Dad? I… want to be an astronaut."

Sam frowned and elbowed Danny. "Sorry, Mr. Fenton. I _was_ into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now. They're like cellphones."

"Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting ghosts?" The Tucker said, also elbowing Danny in the side.

Dad frowned. "Well… if you do want to hunt ghosts, there are a few things you need to learn." It turned around and started to sort through the objects on the table behind him.

Danny sighed and glanced at his friends, then poked at Daniel. He poked back lazily. _I am resting_, he muttered, curling up tighter in Danny's mind. _You can listen to Dad blather on for all eternity for all I care._

Danny sank down into his chair just as a horrible cold feeling raced down his spine. "This isn't good," he breathed, his breath fogging in the air. "They're back."

"What's back?" Sam whispered.

Danny pointed towards the portal, where three thick tentacles were sneaking through and attaching to the walls. "Ghost octopuses."

"Octopi," The Tucker corrected with a shrug. "And I'm still not completely convinced they can hurt-" Its voice was cut off as a thick tentacle wrapped around it and lifted it into the air. Another snaked over and grabbed Sam. The octopus's eye appeared through the portal, along with its clacking beak.

"While it's true I've never seen a ghost-" Dad was saying, completely ignorant of the ghost octopus.

"Daniel?" Danny whispered.

_I still vote for running,_ he put in, but with no real emphasis behind it. Danny would protect his family. And, as it seemed they would be Daniel's family for the next while as well…

He didn't really have a problem with it.


	15. Section 2: The Meat

**Phantom, Danny**

**Section 2: The Series**

* * *

_This starts a new 'section' of the Phantom, Danny universe. From here on, each chapter will be various scenes out of the series as this AU slowly diverges from the canon timeline. _

_YOU ARE HEREBY WARNED:__ This is my VERSION of the events portrayed in the show. I haven't watched the episodes. They are not incredibly canon-compliant for several reasons. PLEASE don't send me long descriptions of the episodes and lists of what I got wrong. I already know what I am changing from canon and I promise you I'm doing it on purpose._

_These scenes are not pre-written and updates will post when I get something done._

* * *

**Phantom, Danny**

_The story you know from a slightly different point of view._

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Meat**

* * *

-Day 37-

Tuesday dawned bright and clear. Daniel yawned and stretched, silencing the buzzing alarm clock. Rolling over, he stared out the window. Sunshine shown through tree leaves, casting green-tinted shadows on the sidewalk. A grin grew on his face as he sat up and watched the clouds float by. He poked at his human counterpart, getting nothing but Danny's sleepy groan in response.

Giving up on his human actually waking up, Daniel rolled out of bed. As was becoming the norm for them, Danny slept through the early morning rituals. The human boy's presence was a warm, heavy feeling in the back of Daniel's mind as he grabbed his favorite shirt and rushed for the bathroom, hoping to get through the worst of the task in record time. He ran a brush through his hair, then hesitantly grabbed the toothbrush and scrubbed at his teeth. The taste of the toothpaste made his nose wrinkle.

In was unfortunately necessary. They'd gone to the dentist a few days ago and Daniel had listened - in absolute horror - at what having a _cavity_ meant. He'd vowed that it wasn't ever going to happen to him, but that meant he needed to do certain things to care for the body he was using.

He was slowly coming to the realization that this body needed to be kept safe in ways his ghost form had never needed. Humans were vulnerable. He had been small, insignificant, and powerless as a ghost, but even he'd been stronger than this fragile human form. Brushing his teeth was just one of the many horrifying things that needed to be done to keep this body healthy.

Spitting out a mouthful of the disgusting toothpaste, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Black hair. Blue eyes. A pale, slightly weak-looking body. Danny Fenton - a name he was also borrowing.

A body that was part ghost.

He laughed and leaned closer, letting energy swirl into his eyes. An alien, inhuman green misted through them before dying back down.

"Are you going to be in there all morning?" came an annoyed voice.

Daniel shot a glance at the door, trying to place the voice. He was starting to be able to pick out various humans based on their appearance, but voices still threw him for a loop. This voice likely belonged to Jazz or Mom, as they were the two females that lived in this house. "I am done," he answered, making sure his shirt was straight and opening the door.

The human blocked the doorway as its eyes flickered over his clothes. "Same shirt again," it commented.

He edged past the female, sending her a smile and doing his best not to touch her. Humans were clingy things, and he still wasn't sure if this was Jazz or Mom. The two humans simply looked too much alike. Jazz was the one that tended to grab and touch without warning and needed to be avoided. "I like this shirt."

It rolled its eyes as it headed into the bathroom. "You should buy a few more of them, then."

"There are more of them?" he said, incredulous, but the door was shut and he found himself in an empty hallway. "Where?" He poked at the sleeping human, but he didn't care enough about having an answer right then to wake Danny. He had his shirt for today. He could ask later.

Breakfast was the same ordeal as always, never failing to snap Daniel out of the good mood that clung to him when he first woke up. Danny refused to wake up for the meal - merely rolling over and muttering sleepy, dark threats about not getting to fly later - which forced Daniel to deal with the morning ritual of _eating_. He slunk around the kitchen, poking and prodding at the various objects in there and wasting time, hoping that _School_ would start before he had to _actually _eat. He was aware this frail human body required it, but he still wished he didn't have to participate in the disgusting act.

The procrastination never worked. Mom always plopped breakfast on the table and made him eat some of it before he was allowed to leave for _School_. Oatmeal, today.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Mom said after it set the bowl down and got a dish of its own. "You used to love breakfast."

Daniel shrugged, hoping to avoid having to speak to it. He picked up the spoon and swirled the oatmeal around.

"I put honey and brown sugar in it," it said after a minute, adding a significant glance towards the bowl.

He slowly scooped up a small bite and set it in his mouth. The sweetness from the honey and sugar made him pause. Surprised at the fact that it didn't taste as bad as he'd been dreading, Daniel picked at the oatmeal, carefully scooping up as much of the honey and brown sugar and as little of the oats as possible.

"Do you want me to just hand you the jar?"

With a blink of incomprehension, Daniel glanced up at Mom. "What?"

Mom smiled at him. "Eat the oatmeal too, Sweetheart. Not just the honey."

He sighed and made sure his next spoonful had more oats on it. The sweet honey nearly covered up the bland flavor of the oats. As he nibbled at his breakfast, he thought that perhaps this _eating_ thing wasn't too horrible. At least, if you ignored all the chemical processes involved in digestion and the wastes that were created and would need to be gotten rid of later.

He shuddered and set down his spoon, that thought driving away even the slightest bit of enjoyment in the sugary taste, and glanced up at Mom. It was busy reading a newspaper. "I am going to _School_," he told it.

It nodded. "Have fun."

Setting his half-full breakfast bowl in the sink, Daniel stuffed his feet into his shoes, didn't bother with trying to tie them, and hurried out the door. Maybe Sam would be waiting for him at the corner and they could walk to _School_ together.

.

.15.

.

-Day 37-

He took the 'eating is not so bad' sentiment back at lunch. Fortunately, the vast majority of the students at _School_ seemed to agree with him.

"This… this isn't food!" The Tucker complained louder than necessary.

"It's called a _salad_," came Sam's instant retort.

"It's _garbage!_" The Tucker snapped back.

_I agree. It's garbage_, Danny muttered from the back of his mind. _You and me finally agree on not eating lunch. This is disgusting._

Daniel picked at the bits of green on his plate, moving them around with his fork. He picked up one of the leafy bits with his fingers and took a small bite. It was tasteless and crunchy.

Eating was one of the most disgusting and annoyingly scheduled habits the humans had - but at least they had developed _taste_ in most of their food. What was the point of eating if there wasn't even any taste to it?

Sam was sitting up straight in her seat, a deadly look to her eyes as she leaned over to the table towards The Tucker. "It's great for the school, Tucker! With the obesity epidemic-"

"Meat doesn't cause obesity!" The Tucker said. "Find me _one_ article that says that."

"Vegetables are full of nutrients and vitamins important for growth and development. I can find you _dozens_ of studies that say we don't eat enough of them."

The Tucker scowled. "I eat things that eat vegetables. That's good enough for me. And do you want to talk nutrients? Let's talk _protein._"

_Do you want me to take over?_ Danny asked. _They're just going to do this the rest of lunch period._

Daniel thought about it, then nodded and took a step backwards in his mind. He felt the heavy, warm human mind rush forwards and take over. The transition was seamless. He curled up and settled on simply watching the drama unfold.

"It _is_ a little extreme, Sam," Danny said, overriding The Tucker's sputtering disgust over something Sam had said. "No meat at all?"

"It's _one lunch!_" Sam said darkly, stabbing her salad with her fork. "You can eat all the meat you want when you get home and the rest of the week when the menu goes back to normal."

"I'll die before then," The Tucker muttered, pushing its salad away from it and moaning pitifully as it buried its head in its arms. "Died from lack of meat. I want that on my tombstone."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're not going to die from eating one salad."

"What if I have a lettuce allergy?" The Tucker asked, picking its head up enough to glare at Sam.

Sam arched an eyebrow. "A lettuce allergy?" she parroted, sounding annoyed. "You don't have a _lettuce allergy_."

"How would you know?" The Tucker shot back. "I've never eaten lettuce before!"

_Could we go find a different place if we must eat lunch?_ he asked. Perhaps then he could bother Danny about getting an extra copy of his favorite shirt. Maybe even two extra. _Someplace quieter?_

"Yeah," Danny muttered, grabbing his tray. He glanced over at his bickering friends and said, "Hey, guys? I'm going to-" His words broke off when the horrible cold feeling of a nearby ghost swamped over him, making goosebumps rise on his arms. The next breath came out fogging the air.

_The octopuses are back already?_ Daniel asked, feeling a curl of fear at the thought of the predatory ghosts having returned yet again. They had survived the previous encounters through a combination of luck and Danny's stubborn mindset. Those two things wouldn't last much longer if the octopuses were this intent on stalking them. _What should we do?_

Neither Sam nor The Tucker seemed to notice Danny standing over them. "But it's organic!" Sam argued.

"I happen to _like_ my food genetically modified," The Tucker sniped. "It adds flavor."

Danny sighed, set his tray down and fought off a shiver, but he didn't sit back down. He gazed blankly at his friends, seeming to think something through.

_Do not try to find the octopuses!_ Daniel said, panicking as he caught on to Danny's thought process. _They hurt us really bad last time._

Walking away from the table, Danny shook his head slightly. "What if those things came to the school? I need to know," he mumbled.

_But why?_

"Someone might get hurt," he muttered, skirting around student-filled tables. The cold got steadily worse. By the time he reached the food service area just past the rows of tables, Danny's teeth were chattering.

_We will get hurt! _Daniel reached out and momentarily took control of Danny's legs, bringing them to a stop. _No. I do not want to! If the ghosts are here, they are not after Dad. _

Danny stared over the counter into the _School's_ kitchens. "But…" he trailed off. "Why would the octopuses be _here?_ What if they're after something new?"

Mentally gritting his teeth, Daniel refused to allow the legs to move. He felt Danny push against him, causing spikes of pain to lance through their head as they struggled for control. _I do not want to get hurt again_, he cried as his control of Danny's body started to falter. _Please._

Shivering from the ghost and wincing from their new headache, Danny rubbed his hands against his arms. "I won't go anywhere near the ghost," he promised. "I just need to see."

Daniel relaxed his faltering grip on the lower half of their body. The pain in their head faded slightly. As Danny crept towards the empty kitchens, Daniel curled up in a little ball in Danny's head and turned the world off as best he could. He didn't want to see what was going to happen.

Wrapped in darkness and silence and the distant throb of a headache, it was less than a minute before he felt Danny prod at him. There was a whispering sensation of surprise along with it, and a momentary image of the ghost in the kitchen. It wasn't an octopus.

It was a woman.

Daniel reached back for Danny's body, allowing his eyes to see and his ears to hear again. Danny was crouched by the door, peering over a few boxes and doing his best to contain his shivers. The ghost - complete with apron and hair net - was quietly reading the menu next to the door. "It's not an octopus," Danny whispered. "It's just an old lady."

_I see that_, Daniel answered. He was still tense. _Despite her appearance, she is still a very powerful spirit to exist in this world._

"I'm not gonna let her know I'm here," he breathed. "Relax."

Danny knew so very little about how the ghost world worked. It was simple survival of the strongest: the more powerful ghosts destroyed any weaker ones they could find. Daniel had find no way to properly explain that to his human half. _She will eat us!_

A hand on his shoulder and a voice in his ear made him jump. "Danny?"

Jerking around, Danny stared at Sam and The Tucker, his heart beating in his throat. "Guys."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Ghost," Danny said, turning back around and looking into the kitchen. The old lady ghost was gone. "Or, there was," he corrected. Getting to his feet, he edged further into the doorway and looked around the empty room. The cold faded.

Daniel relaxed, hoping that the ghost had simply gone back to wherever she had come from.

The Tucker stepped in front of him. "Really? What'd it look like? Another ectopus?"

"Octopus," Danny corrected, crossing his arms. "And no. It was some sad-looking old lady wearing an apron and that net thing over her hair."

The Tucker grinned. "A lunch lady ghost? Awesome!"

"Casper High might have it's very own ghost," Sam added. "That's kinda neat."

_No, no it is not,_ Daniel muttered. _Powerful ghosts like that are dangerous. _

Danny shrugged. "Whatever she was, she's gone now."

"Maybe she'll come back," Sam said.

_I hope not_, Daniel added quietly. He settled into the back of Danny's mind, his nerves on edge, wishing he could take Danny's body and just go home for the day.

"Let's just go finish lunch," Danny said, stepping away from the kitchen door and rubbing at the residual headache, "before someone comes over here and asks what we're doing."

"Don't you think you're going a bit far to call it _lunch_?" The Tucker muttered. "It's garbage."

.

.15.

.

-Day 38-

Daniel fled. His ghost form lent him the speed and maneuverability his human form couldn't match as an ectoplasmically-charged pile of mystery meat chased him, inches from his feet.

The old lady ghost hadn't stayed away. She'd come back, just as Daniel had feared. He'd been all for running away as far and as fast as he could, but Danny had disagreed, fearing for the safety of the other humans at _School_. The human mind just didn't understand the danger they were in.

They'd been at an impasse until the ghost had captured Sam. Daniel's pleas to head for the hills had stopped at the sight of the old ghost grabbing Sam's arm and dragging her away. He didn't want Sam getting hurt - the girl was his favorite human, with the possible exception of the one he was stuck in the mind of. So he had, extremely hesitantly, agreed to help free her. Or at least to help _try_ to free her. Daniel was convinced they would be eaten in the attempt.

They hadn't been eaten yet, although their prospects were looking increasingly dim.

_Faster!_ Danny yelped as something grabbed their foot.

"I cannot," Daniel panted, struggling to maintain his speed as he dove up and down, around in circles, and through trees and walls. The meat didn't seem to be fazed by the gymnastics, never straying more than a few feet away from him. "We need a new plan."

_Think Tucker's found Sam yet?_

"I do not know." Daniel raced towards a tree, flipped around at the last minute and pushed off the tree trunk with his feet, zipping back the way he came. The meat splattered into the tree, gaining him a precious second of lead time as it regrouped. "And I do not have time to find out."

_We need to distract the ghost until Tucker gets Sam free._

Daniel clenched his teeth, taking a second to glance over his shoulder at the stuff that was chasing him. It was back in fast pursuit. He could feel exhaustion pulling at him; although he could leisurely fly for hours without tiring, this frantic chase was draining him of energy at a terrifying pace. "I cannot keep this up much longer."

_I know. Just for-_

The world suddenly seemed to tear apart. Daniel screamed as the energy he was using for his flight simply vanished from his grasp.

His ability to fly gone, he tumbled to the ground, barely missing slamming into several trees. Coming a stop, he lay in a crumpled, dazed pile. The faint, sort-of-pain of his ghost body hummed through him like a gong. Had he been human, the impact with the ground would have killed him.

_What happened? _Danny asked.

Daniel wrenched his eyes open and staggered to his feet. The world spun crazily and there was a horribly hollow feeling in his chest. His arm ached - he must have landed on it when he fell. He wanted nothing more than to collapse onto a bed and allow his body to rest. "I think-" He froze, flinching backwards a step.

The old lunch lady ghost was standing only feet away, green eyes peering at him from under her hair net. Globs of glowing meat hovered around her like guardian angels. She looked concerned. "Oh dear! Are you okay?"

Daniel's mouth moved silently as he tried to come up with something to say. Images of being eaten flashed through his mind, crushing any thought of attempting to answer.

When Danny pushed against him, he fled to the recesses of their mind and let Danny take over. Danny staggered a few steps, put a hand to his head, then curled his fingers around his injured arm. "Yeah, I think so," Danny replied.

_Run!_ Daniel screamed when he saw the ghost's green eyes flicker with insane red lightning.

Danny managed two steps before his ghost form disintegrated around him. What little bit of energy he had left slammed into his chest, knocking him back to the ground. Human again - and in more pain than Daniel could have ever imagined could exist - Danny rolled onto his back and groaned. "Ow. Wasn't expecting that," he moaned.

The ghost waved her arm. The circling globs of meat flew towards Danny's prone form, wrapping around his ankles and towing him into the sky.

_Danny! Do something!_

Danny tried to kick his feet, but every movement was torture. Pain spiked through him, leaving him panting for breath. He twisted and bucked as the meat-blobs carried him higher and higher. "Let go!" he snarled. Already, they were at the height of the treetops.

"Danny!" came a shout.

Danny managed to twist around to see The Tucker standing on the roof of _School_ with Sam next to it. "Tucker!" Danny yelled. His voice broke on the name.

The Tucker pulled back its arm, then threw something shiny and cylindrical towards him. "Catch!"

The thing tumbled a few times, Danny having to reach out and barely getting hold of it. It was cold and metallic in his fingers when he finally brought it against his chest. A thermos. "My dad's thermos?" His eyes widened in understanding.

_The ghost catcher? But it doesn't work._

Danny didn't have time to do anything else. The globs of meat chose that moment to release their grasp on Danny's ankles. Danny fell. Air whipped past his ears.

_Fly!_ Daniel yelled. The freezing presence meat globs and the lunch lady ghost fell away, replaced by that singular thought. It was just like all those nights Daniel had spent trying to teach the heavy human mind how to break itself out of a fall. It was so simple even a human could do it.

Their fall slowed, then came to a stop. Danny hung in the air, only a foot from the ground, panting heavily before dropping to the ground in a groan. The thermos dangled in his limp arms. His eyes tracked the lunch lady ghost as she raced towards him.

_Danny…_ Daniel pushed weakly at Danny's mind, trying to get the human to run. Standing here, staring down this ghost was suicide!

"Please work," Danny whispered. He closed his eyes, pulling at the last little bits of energy and _pushing_ it into the thermos's circuits. In his hands, the thermos started to vibrate.

_What are you doing?_ Daniel felt the world start to teeter and wobble around him as his energy drained away into the thermos. _Danny?_

Blue light suddenly erupted around them, filling their world with an intense, otherworldly glow.

Someone shrieked. It was a long, painful wail.

But Daniel wasn't paying any attention. He felt the last of his energy vanish like the a stopper being pulled from a drain. _Danny!_ he screamed as the world disintegrated.

Everything vanished.


End file.
